TBH… TX and Ercot are F’ing dumb. They have options to fix the grid and then they act like everything is fine till it melts down again. The deep freeze in 21 highlighted everything wrong with the current infrastructure. I don’t get it.
Additionally, what I don’t understand… I looked at the energy consumption for CA and TX… can someone help me understand why CA uses half the amount of energy TX does?
One problem with energy consumption is it is hot as hell in Texas, with average temperatures over 95 degrees from May - November. California as a whole does not have the consistently hot temperatures like Texas. I lived in LA for a year and May there is so cold at night you have to wear winter clothes. Come to Houston and your ass will burn alive in May. Plus, in the San Francisco Bay area, 47% of the San Francisco metro area’s 1.7 million households even had air conditioning. Here in Houston. only the very poor do not have air-conditioners. We run our air-conditioner generally year round. There are very few days we need a heater running. Population, as of now there are over just over 30 million people in Texas, California is 39 million. Most in California live in cooler climates.
Back when Rick Perry was Gov of Texas, he decided that we need to go with this eco green energy. Now here are the facts, according to the EGI, "Texas also accounts for about one-seventh of the nation's total energy consumption, more than any other state, and it is sixth among the states in per capita energy consumption." "However, because Texas produces much more energy than it consumes, it is the nation's largest net energy supplier. Texas leads the nation in energy production, providing nearly one-fourth of the country's domestically produced energy."
- Texas has abundant renewable energy resources and is first in the nation in wind-generated electricity.
- Texas is among the leading states in solar energy potential and generation.
- Geothermal resources suitable for power generation also are present in eastern and southern Texas. Uranium—the fuel for nuclear reactors—was mined from sandstone deposits in the Texas coastal plain as early as 1961, and significant resources remain.
During the big freeze our wind and our solar got shut down. And they were, collectively, more than 10% of our power grid, that caused a domino effect on the rest of the power grid. Gov Perry should have never wasted taxpayers money on this green new deal shit. You have to remember also that houses in Texas are not built the same way they are in colder parts of the country. Hell our house has Hardy board and some very tin reflective shield in the middle and dry wall. It does well to protect us during normal weather but sucks if it get below freezing. Our water lines are also maybe 2' below the surface. So the last months we have not had cool water coming out of the tap but hot.
Unlike other states, most of Texas is not connected to the nation's regional power grids so we avoid federal regulations and can sell power much cheaper. A little history.....The predecessor for ERCOT was formed in the 1930s, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with regulating interstate electricity sales. Even today ERCOT, which was formed in 1970, remains beyond the reach of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates interstate electric transmission. Texans have a total distrust of the federal government. I used 1742 KWHs in my last bill and the average temperature was 98 degrees. So far 18 days we have had temperatures of more than 100 and heat indexes over 120 degrees. I am locked in on a 9.43 cents /KWH, California is about 28.38 cents /KWH. According to EnergySage Marketplace data, California has the most expensive electricity in the country at 28.38 ¢ / kWh.
