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Today’s stories
ERCOT, what else is there to talk about these days.
This morning the ironically named purveyor of electric power to Texans is being run through the wringer for how it’s managing production and electricity supply to Texans during a several-day cold snap.
Here are two truths that can be held simultaneously; ERCOT sucks, Texans need to get a grip.
In public statements, ERCOT has claimed it’s implementing controlled rolling blackouts to keep the grid stable as available energy drops and demand spikes.
To the extent that outages have been “controlled,” they haven’t been well controlled (managed). In Waco and likely every city in Texas, there are pockets with power and others completely without.
Our house lost power at 3 AM Monday. ONCOR claimed the outage would be part of a rolling outage, but the power never returned, save 1 hour between 9:15 and 10:15 on Monday evening.
During that glorious hour of power, we moved the thermostat from 43 to 63. Anecdotally, rolling blackouts, while they might be lousy, would theoretically work (keep folks near or in the 60s) if ERCOT and our proliferation of providers could actually manage power.
What have we learned? ERCOT is largely useless. Gut it. They didn't properly plan for or handle this emergency or make sense after they fouled up. The Texan put it well:
ERCOT has been less than forthright about how many [power plants] were rendered inoperable and how much generation that has cost the state.
This is the latest in a year of breakdowns in trust of systems we have absent-mindedly relied on to maintain order. Health, education, election, and judicial systems have all been defrocked.
As was the case in these previous failings, elected officials are running their social media virtual signaling gambits. These folks are largely useless sockpuppets whose only real purpose appears to be serving as cash pinatas for the lobby.
Instead of talking about looking into and creating panels and reports, just propose an action that can be debated on the merits and passed or replaced with another solution.
Now, how about the lay Texan. I know we like to McConaughey-about our daily lives but put on some clothes. Has nobody heard of layering?
It’s possible to survive 48-72 hours of cold without going full prepper.
Trap heat in a room by drawing the curtains and closing the door. Put towels around doors and windows to stop drafts. Find a pal with a 4x4 to get around if a storm is coming, stack up some wood to burn.
Look out for your neighbors and get ready for reciprocity.
Finally, refer to rule number one, the government is never coming to save you. Do we pay for electricity and infrastructure that should work? Yes, but stuff breaks all the time. Build-in your own redundancies. Stop whining.
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