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The States: Where We Wish Texas Would Secede Already

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The more I read about Texas’ power system, the less shocked I am that everything is failing. Much like their “Independent School District” system, it’s the f-ing worst. Just a Republican fever dream of multiple companies competing against each other in a race to the bottom managed by a state regulator with little regulation. No wonder everything went to s- so quickly.
 
St. Clown said:
The road and utilities infrastructure in MN isn't designed to handle long stints of >100F days. If this were summer and that kind of heat blast hit us, we'd be in the same boat, only boiling rather than freezing. You build for your climate.
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We've known for over 3 decades now that the climate is changing. So, what part of that memo didn't we get?
 
St. Clown said:
The road and utilities infrastructure in MN isn't designed to handle long stints of >100F days. If this were summer and that kind of heat blast hit us, we'd be in the same boat, only boiling rather than freezing. You build for your climate.
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Yes and no. Texas is a unique beast because they 1) are their own transmission grid with very few seems connecting it to the other major grids (they have 2 to Mexico and 2 to the Eastern US), and 2) have almost non-existent utility regulation. They treat electric utilities like auto insurance down there.

If Minnesota had a prolonged heatwave, they still wouldn't be as bad off because 1) they're part of the eastern U.S. grid, so other states' power can pick up some of the slack, and 2) they're more highly regulated so the utilities are required to be capable of handling peak usage days in the summer.

Meanwhile, Texas' power comes primarily from wind and natural gas. Well, they didn't pay to winterize their wind turbines unlike Iowa (where we get 50% of our power from wind and where, except for the sliver of the state in SPP rather than MISO, there have been no blackouts despite ridiculously cold temps for the last 2 weeks) , and while natural gas is dirt cheap in the summer, in the winter people in northern states use it to heat their homes, which strains supplies.
 
Jimjamesak said:
The more I read about Texas’ power system, the less shocked I am that everything is failing. Much like their “Independent School District” system, it’s the f-ing worst. Just a Republican fever dream of multiple companies competing against each other in a race to the bottom managed by a state regulator with little regulation. No wonder everything went to s- so quickly.
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And yet it won’t teach them anything, and the morons they keep electing will now double down blaming renewables and go even harder to block it.

my colleagues down there are not only trying to survive right now but keenly aware that the pipe damages could be thousands per home .
 
ScoobyDoo said:
We've known for over 3 decades now that the climate is changing. So, what part of that memo didn't we get?
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The part where it's actually happening is being complete denied by half the population. They'll be the ostriches drowning with their heads in holes as the oceans continue to rise because they still won't admit to it. We need to base our society's infrastructure on science, but you have so many people thinking that real information and education are an affront to their imaginary gods. How do you get beyond that?
 
ScoobyDoo said:
We've known for over 3 decades now that the climate is changing. So, what part of that memo didn't we get?
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C'mon silly! It's only climate change when it gets warmer! Only downside is changing where the beach parties are! This is colder so it is something different. No way to have expected this might happen. No warnings whatsoever.
 
unofan said:
Yes and no. Texas is a unique beast because they 1) are their own transmission grid with very few seems connecting it to the other major grids (they have 2 to Mexico and 2 to the Eastern US), and 2) have almost non-existent utility regulation. They treat electric utilities like auto insurance down there.

If Minnesota had a prolonged heatwave, they still wouldn't be as bad off because 1) they're part of the eastern U.S. grid, so other states' power can pick up some of the slack, and 2) they're more highly regulated so the utilities are required to be capable of handling peak usage days in the summer.

Meanwhile, Texas' power comes primarily from wind and natural gas. Well, they didn't pay to winterize their wind turbines unlike Iowa (where we get 50% of our power from wind and where, except for the sliver of the state in SPP rather than MISO, there have been no blackouts despite ridiculously cold temps for the last 2 weeks) , and while natural gas is dirt cheap in the summer, in the winter people in northern states use it to heat their homes, which strains supplies.
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It just boggles my mind how bad Texas’ power system is. During this whole mess plenty of companies shut down intentionally because the natural gas prices got so high until ERCOT said they could pass that cost onto their customers.

It’s a free market system and it’s working as intended.
https://mobile.twitter.com/davidlnoll/status/1361875319054077952
 
Deutsche Gopher Fan said:
And yet it won’t teach them anything, and the morons they keep electing will now double down blaming renewables and go even harder to block it.

my colleagues down there are not only trying to survive right now but keenly aware that the pipe damages could be thousands per home .
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The pols in Texas are keenly aware that nothing can be done until temps warm up this weekend and people will die before then and they’re desperately dancing around that hoping people won’t figure that out.

In the end it’ll be mostly poor people dying so it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
 
In a defense of the people of Texas, or at least a sizable portion of them, it is a state that is heavily gerrymandered and has very restrictive voting laws. People are fighting this Republican BS but it is a very difficult battle.
 
Jimjamesak said:
In a defense of the people of Texas, or at least a sizable portion of them, it is a state that is heavily gerrymandered and has very restrictive voting laws. People are fighting this Republican BS but it is a very difficult battle.
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And that’s why I’m glad Biden isn’t playing the Republican game of shunning those who are on the other team.
 
Jimjamesak said:
In a defense of the people of Texas, or at least a sizable portion of them, it is a state that is heavily gerrymandered and has very restrictive voting laws. People are fighting this Republican BS but it is a very difficult battle.
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Gerrymandering is only so much of an excuse. The Governor wasn't elected because of gerrymandering and neither was either Senator who rail against renewables and the very socialism they now beg for.

You lie down with dogs you get fleas.
 
Handyman said:
Gerrymandering is only so much of an excuse. The Governor wasn't elected because of gerrymandering and neither was either Senator who rail against renewables and the very socialism they now beg for.

You lie down with dogs you get fleas.
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And that’s where their restrictions on voting comes in. The game is rigged and you’re blaming people for losing a game they can never win.

Edit: In fairness, yeah there’s still a lot of blame to put on the people though, Texas arrogance is a heck of a disease. But at least recognize plenty of people are trying to fight this stuff.
 
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ScoobyDoo said:
So, the Governor of Texas blames AOC for a Green New Deal that doesn't exist? Apparently they were too cheap to buy wind turbines that were winterized. But, not only aren't the wind turbines winterized neither is the natural gas or any other fossil fuel delivery system. This is what happens when you starve budgets and deregulate mission critical industries.

God, Republicans are so ****ing dumb.
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Even better is this: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CURRENT_DAYCOP_HSL.png

That's for Monday, blue/orange are the predicted power they would get from wind, green is what they were actually getting from wind. They were actually getting more from wind power than they predicted they would.
 
French Rage said:
Even better is this: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CURRENT_DAYCOP_HSL.png

That's for Monday, blue/orange are the predicted power they would get from wind, green is what they were actually getting from wind. They were actually getting more from wind power than they predicted they would.
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This is burying the lede on the actual problem: Texas could be getting electricity out to people very easily if they were connected to either of the National Grids.
 
Jimjamesak said:
This is burying the lede on the actual problem: Texas could be getting electricity out to people very easily if they were connected to either of the National Grids.
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But they’d become socialists the minute they got that socialized energy
 
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