COLD!

[Bracket racer]

Down south nuclear, natural gas and coal plants were shutting down due to lack of water (frozen)

There was no reliable system.

It’s not that there is no reliable system (there are power grids working in the north, doesn’t get any colder than CFB Alert)
It’s just they weren’t prepared for those temps.

Running water in your truck because you live in Texas doesn’t mean the cooling system is unreliable if it freezes.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It’s not that there is no reliable system (there are power grids working in the north, doesn’t get any colder than CFB Alert)
It’s just they weren’t prepared for those temps.

Running water in your truck because you live in Texas doesn’t mean the cooling system is unreliable if it freezes.

Just saying, everybody is picking on wind and solar for failing when pretty much everything was failing.

Outages did go kinda north too, next town from me had a blackout for awhile. It was - 25 that day which while cold is far from unheard of

 

[MikeG]

Yes, there is no doubt the system failed as a whole, here. Part of the issue is population growth. Combine that with the incessant demand to cut any kind of fossil-fuel source and it is a recipe for a disaster. Austin shut down several power plants in the last few years. The politicians will of course spin it to be someone else's fault.

We're shutting down power plants with a growing population (in this state). China is building them as fast as they can. Guaranteed theirs pollute WAY more than ours.

 

[Bracket racer]

Solar and wind are not even in the same ballpark when we talk about “reliability “. Especially when we specify reliable power when both are operating.

I don’t litter and am very conscious of the environment. Have a veggie garden etc. But as to just who is pushing solar and wind? Yes, it IS the left. Not saying solar is bad, I have an electric troller motor on my house boat and a panel on the top. It charges all day and then I cruise around the lake, then it charges on its own. Free power, I get it, but to shut down oil and gas due to a false narrative/agenda is wrong in my opinion.

 

[MikeG]

Can't believe solar yields much that far north. Kind of amazed.

 

[Dirtman]

You do realize the natural gas power plants also failed right?

 

[19Walt93]

Yes, there is no doubt the system failed as a whole, here. Part of the issue is population growth. Combine that with the incessant demand to cut any kind of fossil-fuel source and it is a recipe for a disaster. Austin shut down several power plants in the last few years. The politicians will of course spin it to be someone else's fault.

We're shutting down power plants with a growing population (in this state). China is building them as fast as they can. Guaranteed theirs pollute WAY more than ours.

China has over 2000 coal fired power plants right now and over another 1000 under construction, they just sent a space craft to the moon and back and another to Mars, they have the world's biggest navy, and the Paris climate farce requires us to help them pay to build clean energy. That would be hilarious if it wasn't true. India has about 2/3as many coal plants and is also building more. There are 35 remaining coal plants in the US and none under construction. Vt had a nuke plant but forced it to close due to popular opinion, there were countless letters to the editor ranting about tritium in the water near the plant. A man with a physics background who was connected to Dartmouth college also wrote letters explaining that there is tritium in every drop of water on the planet. Facts didn't matter, the panicked anti-nukers won. We have some solar, too but it's not very effective this far north. A lot of "natural beauty" enthusiasts object to wind farms but still want electricity.

 

[MikeG]

Everything fails when the demand gets too high. It's a domino thing..... would keeping wind online have prevented it? Dunno. Probably not, we don't get all that much from wind. But it would have eased the load on the grid and cut down on the blackouts.

And yes fossil fuel plants need water for steam. If those pipes froze over, there is no excuse for that. Dunno what we were even getting power from.

Transformers have to be kept clear of ice or they overheat and explode. Sounds stupid but saw it all the time growing up during ice storms. Green flash on the horizon.... there goes another one. Or maybe they short out. But ice isn't a good thing to cover up a transformer in, guranteed.

 

[Dirtman]

China has over 2000 coal fired power plants right now and over another 1000 under construction, they just sent a space craft to the moon and back and another to Mars, they have the world's biggest navy, and the Paris climate farce requires us to help them pay to build clean energy. That would be hilarious if it wasn't true. India has about 2/3as many coal plants and is also building more. There are 35 remaining coal plants in the US and none under construction. Vt had a nuke plant but forced it to close due to popular opinion, there were countless letters to the editor ranting about tritium in the water near the plant. A man with a physics background who was connected to Dartmouth college also wrote letters explaining that there is tritium in every drop of water on the planet. Facts didn't matter, the panicked anti-nukers won. We have some solar, too but it's not very effective this far north. A lot of "natural beauty" enthusiasts object to wind farms but still want electricity.

So you want America to be more like India and China?

 

[19Walt93]

So you want America to be more like India and China?

View attachment 55892

Not even a little. I just don't want to pay for cleaning up their mess while the build up their military and explore space.

 

[MikeG]

Point being that we can't do much about pollution / global warming till we get China and India on board. As they industrialize, they will dwarf our energy consumption, and probably already out-pollute us by a substantial margin.

 

[Bracket racer]

Dead on Mike, this is not about climate or the earth or anything other than an agenda to drive down western, capitalist, democratic nations. I lived in Germany while in the army and I remember my landlord bragging about his new Mercedes which had a banner in the back window. It said “mit katalist” which was German for “it has a catyletic converter” He was all proud, saying how green Germans were. I said “ we’ve had converters, by law since 1975 and you can’t buy leaded gas”. He stumbled quite a bit on that one. That was 1993 and German gas (benzine) still had enough lead for 112 octane at the pump!

 

[sgtsandman]

Well, according to some talking head on conservative talk radio liberals, Democrats, and socialists are to blame because renewable energy, like wind turbines can't work in cold climates, even though they're used in Northern Europe. He then went on a psychotic rant that the left is trying to intentionally sabotage the Lonestar State and kept on talking nonsense like he was possessed by Rush Limbaugh.

Anyway, the reality is Texas isn't built for cold weather because cold weather is unusual in Texas.

Quite a few countries in Europe went big into wind generation and from what I'm hearing, are greatly regretting that decision.

Wind turbines can be winterized. They need some kind of heating system in the hub and boot type systems like they used on aircraft to deice and keep fluids flowing. From what I understand, the company/companies who own them chose not to get either of those for them. So, the iced up and froze up as a result.

 

[sgtsandman]

Solar and wind are not even in the same ballpark when we talk about “reliability “. Especially when we specify reliable power when both are operating.

I don’t litter and am very conscious of the environment. Have a veggie garden etc. But as to just who is pushing solar and wind? Yes, it IS the left. Not saying solar is bad, I have an electric troller motor on my house boat and a panel on the top. It charges all day and then I cruise around the lake, then it charges on its own. Free power, I get it, but to shut down oil and gas due to a false narrative/agenda is wrong in my opinion.

Solar and wind can be a viable supplement, if used sensibly and correctly but it will NOT replace coal, gas, and nuclear any time in the near future. From what I understand, wind is very maintenance intensive. Solar panels and mirrors need to be kept clean all the time for best efficiency and average about a 20 year operational life and require a huge foot print. I don't know the life span on wind turbines. Traditional systems have about 40 years.

 

[Bill]

Not even a little. I just don't want to pay for cleaning up their mess while the build up their military and explore space.

That's easier said than done. If I had a choice I wouldn't buy anything from China.