ERCOT urges Texans to conserve power Monday. (Odessa, Uvalde: power lines, landscaping)

[CastletonSnob1]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...y-17295889.php

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired of worrying about whether the power will stay on every winter and summer. I'm going to remember this when I vote in November.

After last year's power outage, Uvalde, Odessa running out of water, and the disastrous COVID response, this could be the thing that finally sinks Abbott.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by CastletonSnob1

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...y-17295889.php

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired of worrying about whether the power will stay on every winter and summer. I'm going to remember this when I vote in November.

After last year's power outage, Uvalde, Odessa running out of water, and the disastrous COVID response, this could be the thing that finally sinks Abbott.

Abbott has an R next to his name, the major urban areas arent yet ahead in of exurbs, small cities, and rural areas in population and the guy running against him campaigned on gun control when he was running for president. This wont sink Abbott though I wish it would and I share your frustration about the power issues.

[achtung baby]

I just want to quote Beto this morning:

“We can’t rely on the grid when it’s hot.

We can’t rely on the grid when it’s cold.

We can’t rely on Greg Abbott. It’s time to vote him out and fix the grid.”

Sounds like a Dr. Suess poem.

For such a powerful, wealthy state, supposedly the ““the energy capital of the world” yet this keeps happening.

If Texans keep voting Abbott, it’s on them.

The global warming is here and it’s real, unless you don’t believe it. (Oh wait, I forgot, many DON’T believe in global warming.)

I’ll vote for anyone who is NOT Greg Abbott.

[Raider Scott]

I am pretty sure, replacing R's with D's is not going to solve this or other problems this state faces.


We need total reform in our current 2 party duopoly.

[achtung baby]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Abbott has an R next to his name, the major urban areas arent yet ahead in of exurbs, small cities, and rural areas in population and the guy running against him campaigned on gun control when he was running for president. This wont sink Abbott though I wish it would and I share your frustration about the power issues.

He won’t get nominated by GOP for 2024. As much as I loathe DeSantis, he has a much national recognition (for the Covid denial and making FL the go-to place for people who “escaped for freedom” during pandemic.) and a cult following. Abbott wished he were DeSantis, both are charisma-free, it pains me to say but Trump does have charisma.

[achtung baby]

Originally Posted by Raider Scott

I am pretty sure, replacing R's with D's is not going to solve this or other problems this state faces.


We need total reform in our current 2 party duopoly.

Yes we can wait for your solution, while waiting in the dark in the power outage.

D isn’t perfect, especially the far D, but I’ll take anyone who’s not far R, capital R.

[tmtex]

Beto will fix it. He will take your AC's away !

[gwarnecke]

The idea that the power grid cares who sits behind the governor's desk, at least in the short term, is comical.

Electricity prices are up because of global market forces (specifically, natural gas prices). Grid reliability is questionable due to the age of the infrastructure. Demand is high because of high temperatures and the booming economy + industrial growth in Texas (I mean, I guess you could "blame" that factor on state politics).

Upgrading the grid will be a 20+ year effort, and the costs will be borne by the customers. Reliability improvements are welcomed, but costs and benefits need to be balanced. On a block-by-block level, some improvements would be so disruptive that residents would fight them even if they were free (ie digging up mature trees and landscaping to bury the power lines).

On a personal note, I'd rather keep a generator for the one time every 5 years that the power goes out for an extended period than pay an extra 5-10 cents/kWH for reliability improvements that *may* yield benefits in the next few decades.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by CastletonSnob1

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...y-17295889.php

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired of worrying about whether the power will stay on every winter and summer. I'm going to remember this when I vote in November.

After last year's power outage, Uvalde, Odessa running out of water, and the disastrous COVID response, this could be the thing that finally sinks Abbott.

1. The state bound grid and ERCOT both originated and came into modern form under more or less 100% democratic leadership. The grid in the 1930s and '40s....ERCOT in the 1970s.

2. People on the left, heck everyone, should be celebrating that we are moving so quickly to more solar. While decreasing coal as a fuel.

3. The fact is we are making an incredibly fast transition from mostly coal and gas to more or less very little coal, gas and wind and solar. FWIIW the pain point this afternoon is wind which will produce at about 10% capacity.

But the fact is emotional people are going get by on emotion.

[achtung baby]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

The idea that the power grid cares who sits behind the governor's desk, at least in the short term, is comical.

Electricity prices are up because of global market forces (specifically, natural gas prices). Grid reliability is questionable due to the age of the infrastructure. Demand is high because of high temperatures and the booming economy + industrial growth in Texas (I mean, I guess you could "blame" that factor on state politics).

Upgrading the grid will be a 20+ year effort, and the costs will be borne by the customers. Reliability improvements are welcomed, but costs and benefits need to be balanced. On a block-by-block level, some improvements would be so disruptive that residents would fight them even if they were free (ie digging up mature trees and landscaping to bury the power lines).

On a personal note, I'd rather keep a generator for the one time every 5 years that the power goes out for an extended period than pay an extra 5-10 cents/kWH for reliability improvements that *may* yield benefits in the next few decades.

Apparently a “comical” question: why did Texas not join the national grid?

Anything to do with the “booming economy” that thanks to the outstanding state politics?