Global Warming in Texas

Biden and AOC haven't said much about the global warming that's going on in Texas, so far.

Power outages, record lows, lows never seen before in Texas, even the wind mills are frozen solid:

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2021/02/15/frozen-wind-turbines-soaring-spot-electricity-prices-how-the-artic-freeze-is-roiling-texas-energy-market/

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-winter-storm-power-outage-snow-temperatures

Up here we call it just another day. Hope nobody has to plug in their Tesla before heading to the empty grocery stores.

Some business news says the Enron style energy trading now affects 17 states. Follow the $$.

ETA: Wonder if the POTUS will hold a Jimmy Carter style fireside chat when he told us to put on a sweater and suffer thru the oil embargo?

Blondie wrote:Up here we call it just another day. Hope nobody has to plug in their Tesla before heading to the empty grocery stores.

Some business news says the Enron style energy trading now affects 17 states. Follow the $$.

ETA: Wonder if the POTUS will hold a Jimmy Carter style fireside chat when he told us to put on a sweater and suffer thru the oil embargo?

Good one Blondie.

I remember having to wait in line for gas, odd and even days, 10 gallon max.

Texas is going to get hit again by winter storms. Many people still without power.

I was watching the news and they interviewed several people on the outage and they are pee'd off with no power, no heat, no way to cook, etc.. Seems like a good reason to be a prepper and not go for the new green deal.

Here's a map of current power outages in Texas, still over 3 million without power:

https://poweroutage.us/area/state/texas

Here's a break down of the power generated by Texas, the bulk of it of course is oil and natural gas, but 28% of it is wind, but only when it doesn't freeze up the turbines:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/02/the_irony_of_texass_massive_power_outrages_during_winter_weather.html

I left Texas three years ago. One of many reasons was that they would not take certain threats seriously.

Watched an interview with Gov. Abbott that just concluded. About 10% of Texas is alternative energy, wind, solar, etc.

ALL of it is currently rendered useless. All of it.

Next up, another ice storm is forecast!

Blondie wrote:Watched an interview with Gov. Abbott that just concluded. About 10% of Texas is alternative energy, wind, solar, etc.
ALL of it is currently rendered useless. All of it.
Next up, another ice storm is forecast!

Not only that, but heat pumps have been pushed, even to the point where Texas Veterans Administration wouldn't certify mortgages without a heat pump. Almost all heat pumps have straight electric heat, as backup, for when the temperature gets below 32 (or in some cases, maybe below 24). The straight electric heat requires at least three times as much electricity as the compressor in the heat pump. That creates a huge demand on electricity, every time the temperature goes below 24 degrees.

People in Texas are at a loose, don't know what to do or what's next. No power and no water and no sewage:

https://weather.com/news/news/2021-02-17-texas-water-power-outages-snow-ice-weather-south

Dave58 wrote:

rick1 wrote:People in Texas are at a loose, don't know what to do or what's next. No power and no water and no sewage:
https://weather.com/news/news/2021-02-17-texas-water-power-outages-snow-ice-weather-south

There will be some hard lessons learned from this....

Maybe, maybe not. There have been little warnings, over and over and over, that this would happen. It is one of the reasons I left there. They would recover from one disaster, and not prepare for the next one.

My town was at the end of a 30 mile double pipeline (two pipes less than 100 feet apart) and they were 400 feet higher than the nearest reliable water source. They had no backup plan. Twice, they got cut off, and one of those times, they ran out of water.

This is not the first time they lost gas pressure, resulting in blackouts, in the winter. And they know the "rolling" blackout system is not reliable. They can turn off the electric, but often cannot turn it back on.

"If you are not recovering from a disaster, you should be preparing for one."
I have been saying that since 1996, when I realized there was a problem with our country, and the way they dealt with disasters.
I think I will revise it. Starting today, people should be preparing for the next disaster, even if they are still recovering from the last one.

I agree with ya TRex on people preparing for the next disaster. I guess nobody has ever heard of the feds/state emergency plans that say to have at least 3 days worth of food and water in case of an emergency. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe it's now higher then 3 days.

Yes people will learn from this experience, I hope.

Here's a short story. My daughter and husband were building a home (16 years ago), everyone in the area had electric heat, they were going to do the same.

I talked them out of it and they put in oil hot water heat with a wood/coal furnace back up.

They now thank me for talking them into that, as they have lost power many times and many of their neighbors have put up a flue and now have a backup wood burner. Live and learn.

rick1 wrote:...
Yes people will learn from this experience, I hope.
Here's a short story. My daughter and husband were building a home (16 years ago), everyone in the area had electric heat, they were going to do the same.
I talked them out of it and they put in oil hot water heat with a wood/coal furnace back up.
They now thank me for talking them into that, as they have lost power many times and many of their neighbors have put up a flue and now have a backup wood burner. Live and learn.

I have mentioned heat pumps a couple times. I know a couple people in the CenTex area (within 40 miles of Ft Hood) who had heat pumps. They have been on straight electric for several days, and one just revealed his electric bill (can read his current cost on line: smart meters), for a partial month, is more than he usually pays for the entire winter.

rick1 wrote:I agree with ya TRex on people preparing for the next disaster. I guess nobody has ever heard of the feds/state emergency plans that say to have at least 3 days worth of food and water in case of an emergency. And if I'm not mistaken, I believe it's now higher then 3 days.
...

The stuff they say on TV about preparing is pablum.

There are gov emergency plans that say to have 2 to 4 weeks of food and water, but those stay in the government offices (although I am told you can look them up, if you know where), and the government never tells "the people" that they assume everyone has 2 weeks food and water in their home.

I guess they just have that in the plan, so they can justify not responding any faster or more aggressively. (Frankly, it shouldn't be the gov's job, anyway.) It gives them a CYA blanket, so that after things have gone badly, they can say "we followed the plan."

Ya need to know where your water shut off is, Texans are calling 911 to shut off their water.

People are burning their furniture to keep warm, no food and no water.

Sad, that people can't get along without power in the winter or any other time of the year.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-fire-rescue-triples-its-call-load-as-winter-storm-devastates-residents/287-82563b24-8c79-4d0d-84c7-7249ca927c53

Good article about Texas, also, listen to the video on how a prepper group mentions a 3 day supply isn't enough in an emergency and you should have at least 14 days of food/water:

https://abc13.com/texas-winter-storm-disaster-plan-survivalist-preparedness/10350422/

rick1 wrote:...
People are burning their furniture to keep warm, no food and no water.
...

My wife and I used to ask: Why so many furniture stores. No one needs that much new furniture. Well, that is one problem solved, I guess.

Dave58 wrote:My uncle told me that the LP gas folks told their customers that they should turn the thermostats down to 65 in the day and 60 at night... They evidently buy gas from Texas.....

What are people going to do if the shtf ??

Kinda like throwing a big rock in a pond, it isn't long before every foot of the pond's surface is affected. By the end of summer, this disaster will affect everyone.

Pictures of Texans lining up for food and water, 50% of Texans have no water:

https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=pictures+of+texans+lining+up+for+food+and+water&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwie4Ka65PruAhUNCM0KHTghBgEQ7Al6BAgCEBA&biw=1304&bih=665

Yep. Things going just like the did the last couple of times.

The big difference is that, in the past the gas went out OR the water went out. It was in the NorthEast OR it was in the South.

This time, both of them are out, and they are out almost everywhere in the state.

I always considered the earlier failures as warnings. When a part of a system goes out, I always say that the whole system needs reviewed to see if there are other parts that have similar weaknesses. The government never saw it that way.

If I had lived 2 miles from a lake or river, I might still be there, today. My house was 30 miles from the nearest reliable water source, and 400 feet higher. A city of 30,000 people. I started thinking about "Grid Down" and figured that most of them were going to die from lack of water.

People in that area wouldn't listen, so I moved us.
(I didn't really ask her opinion, before doing it.)
My wife thought that was a bit crazy, until recently.

One of my kids lives in Houston. Her preps, including her butane stove, saw her through the worst of it. She did have to turn on her car to recharge her phone as the battery pack she had died (from previous recharges). She had water, food, and a way to cook. She kept warm with more clothes and blankets (and the dog snuggling). She is considering a small camp heater for next time, however.

Cinnamon wrote:One of my kids lives in Houston. Her preps, including her butane stove, saw her through  the worst of it. She did have to turn on her car to recharge her phone as the battery pack she had died (from previous recharges). She had water, food, and a way to cook. She kept warm with more clothes and blankets (and the dog snuggling). She is considering a small camp heater for next time, however.

Good for her Cin, you must have been a good teacher.

WOW, some Texans facing an electric bill of $8,000.00.

I complain when my electric bill is $60.00


https://time.com/5941458/texas-electricity-bills/

rick1 wrote:WOW, some Texans facing an electric bill of $8,000.00.
I complain when my electric bill is $60.00
https://time.com/5941458/texas-electricity-bills/

Most Texas Electric companies buy electricity in fairly large blocks from the wholesalers, but Texans wanted almost complete deregulation at the retail level, and one of the things they got was at least one utility purchasing wholesale on the immediate demand market. Most of the time they got electricity for half the price of everyone else, but it exposed them to a massive upswing in prices, as everyone bid for that last Megawatt Hour when the grid was overloaded. Smart meters allow price changes down to (I think) 15 minute intervals, and some of those intervals saw prices at near $100 per KWH, instead of the usual .02 to .08 that they usually got.

Well, it looks like Texas survived this time. I haven't seen all of the reports, but I am not seeing anything like last time.

Arkansas got a near record snowfall, in my area, the most in 8 years, according to a nearby station. I am snowed in for a few days but I don't think it will be a week, like it was, last year.

TRex2 wrote:Well, it looks like Texas survived this time. I haven't seen all of the reports, but I am not seeing anything like last time.

Arkansas got a near record snowfall, in my area, the most in 8 years, according to a nearby station. I am snowed in for a few days but I don't think it will be a week, like it was, last year.

TRex, you got the snow and sent all the ice my way. We lost power at 3.30 am this morning and didn't get it back on until 3:10 pm, but my solar generator kept things running.