It's Official: Texas has achieved Third-World Status

[Old Arkansawyer]

What?? There are Texans with no power, freezing and no water to drink,
well, let them join the happy people flying to Cancun.
Reminds me of the quote the peasants have no bread, let them eat cake.
The same mindset.

 

[TX-Dennis]

In Texas we get to choose our retail electric provider. Only a fool would choose a variable rate plan like that. I choose two year contracts with whichever provider has the lowest FIXED rate price at the time of renewal. There are a bunch of companies that offer variable rate plans and gimmicky plans with slot prices, minimum usage requirements, etc. Those are to be avoided at all costs.

My current contract is for about 9.5 cents per kwh. I'm up for renewal next month, so I'll be looking for the lowest fixed rate for the next two years. ERCOT makes it easy to find a new plan at powertochoose.org.

 

[PatriotX]

all wing, no cargo

At least one passenger, proof of concept.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

All of the arguments could be solved with one thing, Nuclear power. I know it is not PC, but it's that or freeze your hind end off. Wind & solar sure don't work very well.

 

[7tenz]

To those in Texas (and elsewhere) effected by the ice and cold, we hope you all hunker down, keep warm and survive until it warms up again.

While Karen and I were driving through Texas we were surprised at the number of wind turbines, especially around Amarillo, in a place where the economy was based on oil and gas (just like our home provence of Taranaki). We never gave a thought to them freezing even though we have heard of the "Texas Blue Norther".

Is green energy really economic?

I have a strong concern for friends I have had while living in TX. Not to mention hearing about all the cattle that have froze to death. Awful situation out there.

When I lived in Amarillo and Borger, also Fritch, I remember a lab wind farm that experimented with various designs of windmills just west of Amarillo on I-40 you could see off the freeway. I forget which university ran that project.

 

[Muss Muggins]

How do folks in North Korea survive?

Like those in other similarly situated countries. Uncomfortably . . .

 

[ladder13]

............ Wind & solar sure don't work very well.

It will for those profiting from the scare. BTW, anyone notice how cold winter has been?

 

[bigwheelzip]

Haliade-X

GE's latest family of wind turbines, Haliade-X, is leading development of the next generation of wind power generation. 276 have been ordered for Britain's Dogger Bank offshore wind farm.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu0RqylJdQo&feature=emb_logo[/ame]

 

[Jeff423]

The essential problem with the energy system in TX and many other things - roads, bridges, etc. domestically is a lack of spending on infrastructure.

 

[PatriotX]

All of the arguments could be solved with one thing, Nuclear power. I know it is not PC, but it's that or freeze your hind end off. Wind & solar sure don't work very well.

Odd that windmills and power plants don't freeze up in Alaska and Norway...but do in Texas.

 

[Onomea]

In Texas we get to choose our retail electric provider. Only a fool would choose a variable rate plan like that. ..

Very true, and I agree. Would not catch me signing up for variable rates either. But there are a lot of fools out there. Only a fool would drive at high speed in the oncoming lane around a curve, but it happens. It's also illegal. As it should be. Even the usurious rates for interest in credit cards are regulated to save fools from themselves.

The essential problem with the energy system in TX and many other things - roads, bridges, etc. domestically is a lack of spending on infrastructure.

This is true of the rest of the country, too. Politicos of all flavors have been vowing to invest in reforming our infrastructure for a very long time. We need to see it actually happen.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Odd that windmills and power plants don't freeze up in Alaska and Norway...but do in Texas.

Alaska and Norway put significant upfront equipment money into accounting for the severe weather conditions they knew they would face. Texas gambled and went cheap, hoping for the best. And lost . . .

 

[JcMack]

The essential problem with the energy system in TX and many other things - roads, bridges, etc. domestically is a lack of spending on infrastructure.

Pretty much the same across the U.S.. The only repairs, update, upkeep on roads, bridges, utilities and you name it is when these systems fail. In '56 Eisenhower pushed for interstate roads to connect the country. The population in the U.S. in '56 was 170 million. Now it's at least 330 million using patched up systems long, long overdue for serious update or repair.

 

[PatriotX]

Alaska and Norway put significant upfront equipment money into accounting for the severe weather conditions they knew they would face. Texas gambled and went cheap, hoping for the best. And lost . . .

It's like running your car without oil until it seizes, then blaming it on the brand.


Texas, it wasn't a Ford or Chevy problem.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

I will confess to being a little cheap. Our home water system is a well
with a sand filter. Well house and sand filter house are 45 yards apart
and our house is about 25 yards from the sand filter. The well house has
never had an electrical outlet, is foam insulated and only the pressure
tank and associated piping above ground. Outside temps down to +5
and no problem, this week down to -11 and frozen and broken pipes, all

PVC broken, about a foot with elbows.
Sand filter house has an electrical outlet and I keep a 750 watt heater
with thermostat plugged in, not toasty, but above freezing. So, when
the sand filter runs dry I realize we are out of water. This all happens
before daylight Wed. morning. Oh, did I mention 9-10 inches of snow
on the ground? No roads have been salted, plowed or anything close
to clearing. 20 miles to town I go in the Ford 4 wheel drive, for whatever
reason I had put mud/snows tires on the rear in Dec. $8.00 worth of
pipe and fittings and back to the well house and water is flowing again.
Another couple hours for the sand filter to fill and water in the house.
All this trouble for the lack of a cheap outlet.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Sorry for the gap, I no idea how it got there or how to remove it.

 

[pawngal]

It's like running your car without oil until it seizes, then blaming it on the brand.


Texas, it wasn't a Ford or Chevy problem.

Or no antifreeze if you live where it get below zero.

 

[leswad]

Green energy = SCAM

 

[SW_shooter]

In regards to the OP's original post. Yep it was cold, very cold for this part of the country. I grew up in MN and it wasn't anything I haven't experienced before. But the folks here in TX are not used to this kind of weather and don't have the tools to deal with it either. (ie snow removal equipment and road prep equipment)

As for the power situation, well you get what you pay for or don't pay for. ERCOT has made it so we can chose electric plans with different rates and some are quite low which in turn keeps electric bills low. When I had my McMansion (3900 SF) our electric bill ran $500/month in the summer. That house was insulated and had better quality windows. Now I live in a 1700SF home that was built cheap. Little if any insulation and very bad old crappy windows that leak like a sieve. Our summer cooling bills were in the $400-500/month range in the summer in this house. This cold snap was worse in that the cold penetrated everywhere and our furnace ran continuously just to keep the house at 68 degrees. Can't wait to see that bill.

As for the power failures. Well ERCOT or whomever ordered the wind turbines left off the heating elements designed to keep ice or snow off the blades because of cost cutting and figured in TX it wouldn't happen. Guess mother nature won that one. Gas burning plants failed because at the low temps the gas doesn't flow as required (or so I'm told) and therefore the equipment froze up. Solar? When its cloudy/overcast or night you don't get anything and for those days of cold/snow/ice we didn't see the sun. It's not a political problem as far as party affiliation, its a problem of the state mandating ERCOT (thus the power suppliers) keep consumer prices low which in turn limits the profitability of the power system and therefore the back ups were limited or non-existent because power generating plants weren't kept in as good shape as needed and backup places weren't usable.

My limited understanding is that the power companies claim that because they have to keep prices low and therefore have limited profitability they cannot keep equipment in as good of condition as needed and thus the failures. They also claim that because of the financial limits they cannot keep backup systems in place, so they basically run on a very close to the line system. During the very hot parts of the summer we always get warnings of possible rolling power outages because the system is near overload. This time it happened during a very cold part of the season.

Perhaps we should learn a lesson and pay a little more so the system can be improved and won't fail in summer or winter?

 

[LVSteve]

Sorry for the gap, I no idea how it got there or how to remove it.

Go back and edit your post?