Blackouts Cascade Beyond Texas in Deepening Power Crisis

[Belize]

The standard for wall insulation in TX, depending on location, should be R-20 to R-38. Standard specs on my projects usually say "R-20 or R-38 EcoTouch PINK Kraft Faced Fiberglass Insulation" or "equivalent". That equivalent, if you are not careful, can get you an inferior product. Like that 3-inch fiber glass. The local Texas building departments tend to be pretty liberal when it comes to code interpretations.

Yeah, no. I can guarantee you that builders aren't anywhere near R-20 in new construction, at least not where I live. The entire neighborhood behind my house is 2015+ construction dates and you're looking about 2" of blow insulation in the attic, and 3.5" inch the walls.

The only saving grace these houses have is that they're bricked on all sides. The building quality is laughable at best, horrifying at worst. They still put the electrical panels outside. In an area prone to large storms and hurricanes. Real useful guys, I love flipping my breakers back on in 100+ MPH winds.

[Edge-]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...o-15956705.php

Sorry, Texans. Freezing and suffering without power in the middle of a winter freeze is just the price you have to pay to keep the feds outta your state.

While the state is begging for federal support.

It's deeply amusing that the people telling Texans that this is an acceptable price to pay are also the folks who have the means to maintain power during a blackout or simply travel elsewhere.

[Ihavewaffles]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...o-15956705.php

Sorry, Texans. Freezing and suffering without power in the middle of a winter freeze is just the price you have to pay to keep the feds outta your state.

While the state is begging for federal support.

It's deeply amusing that the people telling Texans that this is an acceptable price to pay are also the folks who have the means to maintain power during a blackout or simply travel elsewhere.

It's not a state used to snowstorms like this, why would you expect them to be prepared for such? That's like telling Australia to spend monies in case their desert/tropical country one day might get a blizzard. Makes as much sense as selling umbrellas in the Sahara..

[Elegiac]

It's not a state used to snowstorms like this, why would you expect them to be prepared for such?

Because this happened about three years ago and people have been warning them repeatedly that cold snaps like this are only going to become more frequent occurrences as climate change worsens.

It's almost as if this has been a known problem for a while and there's no way to spin this except as a tale of Republican incompetence.

[Ihavewaffles]

Because this happened about three years ago and people have been warning them repeatedly that cold snaps like this are only going to become more frequent occurrences as climate change worsens.

It's almost as if this has been a known problem for a while and there's no way to spin this except as a tale of Republican incompetence.

in israel last few years I have seen snowstorms during winter time, just because it might happen now and then, it's like rare events, you want everyone to chip in in warm regions of the world just in case there will be snow? Forecasts? Dude, those are possibilities, not certainties.

If this happened in Alaska, Chicago, Canada where they would be unprepared for snow, but Texas? Lol dude..

[Elegiac]

in israel last few years I have seen snowstorms during winter time, just because it might happen now and then, it's like rare events, you want everyone to chip in in warm regions of the world just in case there will be snow? Forecasts? Dude, those are possibilities, not certainties.

What part of "these events are only going to become more frequent occurrences as climate change worsens" escapes you?

So yes, everyone should be chipping in to weather the costs because the people most impacted by climate change are the least equipped to handle it.

[wunksta]

For those that like to laugh at our village idiot

Ted Cruz’s 2020 tweet about California blackouts comes back to bite him in the ass

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/...him-in-the-ass

California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity.

Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide.

Hope you don’t like air conditioning!

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

- - - Updated - - -

What part of "these events are only going to become more frequent occurrences as climate change worsens" escapes you?

So yes, everyone should be chipping in to weather the costs because the people most impacted by climate change are the least equipped to handle it.

They will absolutely become more frequent

The Polar Vortex now collapsing, is set to release the Arctic Hounds for the United States and Europe, as we head for the second half of Winter 2020/2021

https://www.severe-weather.eu/global...tates-2021-fa/

[Edge-]

It's not a state used to snowstorms like this, why would you expect them to be prepared for such?

Because it's already happened multiple times in the past decade, and projections are that it will continue to happen? Because losing power for multiple days during a freezing storm is like, a public safety risk?

That's like telling Australia to spend monies in case their desert/tropical country one day might get a blizzard. Makes as much sense as selling umbrellas in the Sahara..

Has Australia faced an increasing number of severe cold fronts? Has it crippled them before? Are they projected to continue?

[Ihavewaffles]

What part of "these events are only going to become more frequent occurrences as climate change worsens" escapes you?

So yes, everyone should be chipping in to weather the costs because the people most impacted by climate change are the least equipped to handle it.

Do you have some magic crystal ball to accurately foresee weather for years to come all across the world where you can best invest monies n know where not to? No? "It might happen" is not how spending money works my dude..

[Elegiac]

Do you have some magic crystal ball

Yes: it's called climate science, sweaty.

I don't know why you're pretending this is a one off event when, again, this happened less than four years ago.

[wunksta]

It's not a state used to snowstorms like this, why would you expect them to be prepared for such?

Because the FERC/NERC Staff Report on the 2011 Southwest Cold Weather Event warned about this exact situation and recommended winterizing the infrastructure to avoid this problem.

[Edge-]

No? "It might happen" is not how spending money works my dude..

Bragging about your ignorance of the topic ain't the good look I think you think it is.

And yeah, spending money to protect against extreme consequences like this, even if they're a small chance, is a pretty good idea, yo. Do you have any idea what the economic cost of this will end up being? The lost productivity? The deaths? The massive damage to property and businesses? The need to extensively repair and rebuild power and water infrastructure? The damage done to oil and natural gas wells?

This is absolutely the, "It's expensive now so we won't do it, but it'll be MORE EXPENSIVE later and we'll just complain about it rather than spend the money to early to save money on the back end."

[Ihavewaffles]

Because it's already happened multiple times in the past decade, and projections are that it will continue to happen? Because losing power for multiple days during a freezing storm is like, a public safety risk?



Has Australia faced an increasing number of severe cold fronts? Has it crippled them before? Are they projected to continue?

Projections are assumptions, possibilities, not proof. For all we know they might get warmer n more droughts. But hey, it's other people billions, lets just guess what might happen..

[Belize]

Do you have some magic crystal ball to accurately foresee weather for years to come all across the world where you can best invest monies n know where not to? No? "It might happen" is not how spending money works my dude..

You've clearly never held a job, or worked past cleaning toilets, because "might happen" is how any and every company operates, whether it be a plant that has a PSM plant to analyze weaknesses where physical leaks can happen, to an accounting business that has backups and spare drives in the event of data loss.

If events are forecasted to become more common, mitigation steps are always taken to ensure continued production, regardless if the events actually happen.

[Ihavewaffles]

Bragging about your ignorance of the topic ain't the good look I think you think it is.

And yeah, spending money to protect against extreme consequences like this, even if they're a small chance, is a pretty good idea, yo. Do you have any idea what the economic cost of this will end up being? The lost productivity? The deaths? The massive damage to property and businesses? The need to extensively repair and rebuild power and water infrastructure? The damage done to oil and natural gas wells?

This is absolutely the, "It's expensive now so we won't do it, but it'll be MORE EXPENSIVE later and we'll just complain about it rather than spend the money to early to save money on the back end."

Your assumption on more expensive later rests solely this will continue to happen. The thing about weather, it's unpredictable, anyone claiming otherwise is the ignorant one in the room. Yes climate change is real, but it will raise unpredictability and for anyone to think they can speak how best to invest prepare for it, is not being sincere.

[wunksta]

"It might happen" is not how spending money works my dude..

It's called risk management. Do you not have home insurance for something that 'might' happen?

[Ihavewaffles]

You've clearly never held a job, or worked past cleaning toilets, because "might happen" is how any and every company operates, whether it be a plant that has a PSM plant to analyze weaknesses where physical leaks can happen, to an accounting business that has backups and spare drives in the event of data loss.

If events are forecasted to become more common, mitigation steps are always taken to ensure continued production, regardless if the events actually happen.

No, the events need to continue to happen more often for steps to be made. Everything else is theory and not how you spend money. I know not what job you have but it sure doesn't involve investment.

[Elegiac]

Your assumption on more expensive later rests solely this will continue to happen. The thing about weather, it's unpredictable, anyone claiming otherwise is the ignorant one in the room. Yes climate change is real, but it will raise unpredictability and for anyone to think they can speak how best to invest prepare for it, is not being sincere.

Again, this is you bragging about your ignorance of climate science, not fact.

If it's unpredictable then why is it people were predicting this exact sort of scenario? Rofl.

[Theodarzna]

Maybe u should blame red states on california always being on fire for cali have electricity sector a century old..

Seems to me all states are stingy, color is irrelevant.

California doesn't have time for that, or Universal Health Care, Cali also decided to gut any possibility of organized labor or labor rights.

[Edge-]

Your assumption on more expensive later rests solely this will continue to happen. The thing about weather, it's unpredictable, anyone claiming otherwise is the ignorant one in the room. Yes climate change is real, but it will raise unpredictability and for anyone to think they can speak how best to invest prepare for it, is not being sincere.

Weather, yes! Weather is incredibly difficult to predict out into the future, it's complex and subject to sudden changes and requires constant data and monitoring to have any certainty for any projections further than a day or two out.

Climate though, is an entirely different ball of wax. And we're not just talking about a local weather event, but climate related weather events over far longer periods of time.

I'd suggest doing some reading on the topic -

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/...r_climate.html
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/weather-vs-climate
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-...s_weather.html
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/n...e_weather.html
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-diffe...imate-change-1
https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-s...d-climate.html
https://www.britannica.com/story/wha...er-and-climate
https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/we...1-82c38e414a25