Community Chat

[mspatmac]

@Porcelain 

For some unknown reason your comment just hit me the wrong way and I over reacted.  Being born and raised in New Jersey I've heard all the taunts for years about my home state.  Then  moved to the Golden State in the beautiful San Francisco Bay area and the stereotyping continued until NJ sisters and parents visited. 

My company transferred me to home office in Texas and my first thought was "what is a native Jersey Girl doing in Texas"  I soon reaalized it was a great move for me and youngest DD.  Friendly welcoming people, job and home I loved. 

I just don't like perceived stereotyping of any kind so I apologize for my reation.  BTW I have native NJ kids, grands born in CA, WA state and Texas.  

Thanks for your latest comments.

@beckyb1012 

[CalminHeart]

I worry about the innocent people affected by the power grid in TX. But really, people elected politicians who don't care and think an isolated grid is ok. Sometimes you get the cr*p you vote for.  

[Spurt]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

I left Texas in 1999.  We never had electricity problems when I was living there and supervising things.  What happened? 

I use an evaporative cooler at my house.  The only electricity it uses is to run a small pump and a fan, no compressor.  It also uses some water.  Costs maybe $35-40/mo to operate. It has advantages and disadvantages.  It makes my house very cold; I'm constantly turning it off because I get too cold.  They only work in dry climates.

@On It. You could possibly use a small portable evaporative cooler at your house if you live in Midland or Odessa as its dry enough there.  When I lived there I noticed many people used them as their cooling source.

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@Kachina624 

Yep, your right we never had any problems when we used natural gas, coal, and nuclear..... In 2009, coal-fired plants generated nearly 37 percent of the state’s electricity while wind provided about 6 percent. Since then, three Texas coal-fired plants have closed and the use of wind power has more than quadrupled, as more transmission lines bringing electricity from remote wind farms to urban market centers came online. In the same period, our energy consumption rose by 20 percent with increases in population.  Texas is leading the country in renewable energy sources......and we see how its working....

What happened was the change in the different energy sources ---the more reliable types of fuel were reduced and they added 2 green energy sources that rely on weather (wind and solar) ....and here's an example of what can happen ---with this high pressure over us creating record breaking heat there is also no wind is happening so these huge metal wind mills are WORTHLESS right now....

And ask Germany how "going green" is working for them......

[Spurt]

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@BlueFinch wrote:

ERCOT regurgitates the same mantra every time: 'We didn't know it would get this bad, or this is an unprecedented event." It's weather, kids know it can get bad. History shows it can get bad. Excuses prevail. 

This morning, they're already whining that they may need to have rolling brownouts, but for only about 15 minutes. Yeah, right.

Thankfully, we made it through yesterday's temp of 107 (h.index 112) and the 104 predicted today may be less due to some clouds throughout the morning. Maybe ERCOT can handle it. 

I do my part to conserve, willing to be uncomfortable, but know others who will make no attempts to comply. It kinda sums up the problem we're having with just about everything these days. We're wasting time, and resources, butting heads. 

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@BlueFinch 

They dont pay attention to the weather reports by real meteorologists...Ercot and municipalities thought---oh you know how the weather is in Texas (during the winter storm our CEO of our Energy Co said it would last a day or two and then the weather would go back to the mid sixties)...but the meteorologists on the local news said different and shoulted a severe warning but were ignored by the energy folks the meteorologist were right, energy folks WRONG....Some said the meeting that took place lasted 45 seconds and they didnt forsee a problem and spent the rest of the time laughing at the picture of people wearing cowboy boots in snow (and how many people DO wear cowboy boots in Texas)....same with this hot summer and the drought.....

[Spurt]

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@chrystaltree wrote:

They never did the upgrades to power grid after that devastating ice/snow storm????   So, you have a power grid that can't serve the needs of the public but no one does anything about it.  

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@chrystaltree 

They are in the process of working on the upgrades hence the second rate increase needed to cover the cost over and above the increase in market value of fuel....

[Spurt]

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@BlueFinch wrote:

ERCOT regurgitates the same mantra every time: 'We didn't know it would get this bad, or this is an unprecedented event." It's weather, kids know it can get bad. History shows it can get bad. Excuses prevail. 

This morning, they're already whining that they may need to have rolling brownouts, but for only about 15 minutes. Yeah, right.

Thankfully, we made it through yesterday's temp of 107 (h.index 112) and the 104 predicted today may be less due to some clouds throughout the morning. Maybe ERCOT can handle it. 

I do my part to conserve, willing to be uncomfortable, but know others who will make no attempts to comply. It kinda sums up the problem we're having with just about everything these days. We're wasting time, and resources, butting heads. 

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@BlueFinch 

The new interim CPSENERGY CEO says SA is in pretty good shape if people continue to voluntarily conserve, he said he noticed a difference in capacity when notices went out (alerts on phones, emails, and calls to customer "power savers") right a 2pm as requested....

[Spurt]

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@CalminHeart wrote:

I worry about the innocent people affected by the power grid in TX. But really, people elected politicians who don't care and think an isolated grid is ok. Sometimes you get the cr*p you vote for.  

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@CalminHeart 

Its sad they interviewed some Seniors on limited budgets that were just using fans because they couldnt afford to use their A/C...CPS Energy has a program called REAP where customers can donate and add a few bucks to their bill to help people pay their electric bills that are struggling.....but how many people really donate to that fund????  Sounds like not enough...

The difference is Texas took the first step to lead the country in renewable energy even surpassing California and look at what happened....

Texas installed 7,352 megawatts of new wind, solar and energy installation projects in 2021, significantly outpacing California, which installed 2,697 megawatts . Oklahoma, Florida and New Mexico were the other top producing states.  @Kachina624 take note New Mexico is joining the party.....

[BlueFinch]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@BlueFinch wrote:

ERCOT regurgitates the same mantra every time: 'We didn't know it would get this bad, or this is an unprecedented event." It's weather, kids know it can get bad. History shows it can get bad. Excuses prevail. 

This morning, they're already whining that they may need to have rolling brownouts, but for only about 15 minutes. Yeah, right.

Thankfully, we made it through yesterday's temp of 107 (h.index 112) and the 104 predicted today may be less due to some clouds throughout the morning. Maybe ERCOT can handle it. 

I do my part to conserve, willing to be uncomfortable, but know others who will make no attempts to comply. It kinda sums up the problem we're having with just about everything these days. We're wasting time, and resources, butting heads. 

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@BlueFinch 

The new interim CPSENERGY CEO says SA is in pretty good shape if people continue to voluntarily conserve, he said he noticed a difference in capacity when notices went out (alerts on phones, emails, and calls to customer "power savers") right a 2pm as requested....

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@Spurt I didn't hear that, but thank goodness some folks are rising for the cause. They need to keep beating the drum, though. It's not a one time deal, with us facing triple digits for the next two weeks, possibly more.

I'm doing all I can. The last two years I was on the power saver's list, but they haven't called me this year. Maybe they periodically change up players to get more people involved? But in the past, I ranked #10-12 out of a 100, so I really can't do any better myself, or I'll croak over here :-).

Do I ever need to do laundry right now. No way I'm turning on that dryer, though. We need a break. 

[Cakers3]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@CalminHeart wrote:

I worry about the innocent people affected by the power grid in TX. But really, people elected politicians who don't care and think an isolated grid is ok. Sometimes you get the cr*p you vote for.  

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@CalminHeart 

Its sad they interviewed some Seniors on limited budgets that were just using fans because they couldnt afford to use their A/C...CPS Energy has a program called REAP where customers can donate and add a few bucks to their bill to help people pay their electric bills that are struggling.....but how many people really donate to that fund????  Sounds like not enough...

The difference is Texas took the first step to lead the country in renewable energy even surpassing California and look at what happened....

Texas installed 7,352 megawatts of new wind, solar and energy installation projects in 2021, significantly outpacing California, which installed 2,697 megawatts . Oklahoma, Florida and New Mexico were the other top producing states.  @Kachina624 take note New Mexico is joining the party.....

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@Spurt   I highlighted what needs to be repeated.

[JamandBread]

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@Spurt wrote:

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@CalminHeart wrote:

I worry about the innocent people affected by the power grid in TX. But really, people elected politicians who don't care and think an isolated grid is ok. Sometimes you get the cr*p you vote for.  

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@CalminHeart 

Its sad they interviewed some Seniors on limited budgets that were just using fans because they couldnt afford to use their A/C...CPS Energy has a program called REAP where customers can donate and add a few bucks to their bill to help people pay their electric bills that are struggling.....but how many people really donate to that fund????  Sounds like not enough...

The difference is Texas took the first step to lead the country in renewable energy even surpassing California and look at what happened....

Texas installed 7,352 megawatts of new wind, solar and energy installation projects in 2021, significantly outpacing California, which installed 2,697 megawatts . Oklahoma, Florida and New Mexico were the other top producing states.  @Kachina624 take note New Mexico is joining the party.....

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It's still only about 20% of your electricity sources. Clearly the source of the brownouts and blackouts is not Green electricity. It's your fossil fuels and power grid. Green energy is taking the blame because, propaganda. Clearly, whatever "investment" was made was not enough for the number of households and business that depend on the independent Texas grid. Since I've just learned it's independent from the rest of the nation's grid, that might be a good place to start. 

But I understand the legislature has more pressing priorities.