I'm pretty sure that Etienne has correctly identified the source of confusion. The idea of needing to cool houses is almost completely alien to the UK.
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I'm trying to work out what would happen here if there was a complete power outage for weeks on end. We have a gas fired boiler which heats water for a central heating system, but it does require a minimal amount of electricity to start it in the first place so in theory, if it went out, it might be impossible to restart it.
If we didn't have our central heating, we don't really have an alternative way of heating the house. Our oven is electric, we have an electric microwave and an electric kettle. We have a barbecue and a smoker for outside use which wouldn't be much help. We don't stock much fuel for it anyway. We've got maybe one bag of charcoal and some decorative ornamental logs in the lounge which could be burned in an emergency. We have lighters and matches so could start a fire fairly easily.
Our house is probably better insulated than the average house in Texas but it wouldn't stay warm for long.
Hmm, am off to consider stocking the house with more useful survivalist stuff.
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- Mar 2008
- 19084
- Revelling In The Hole
- England, Chelsea and Tooting and Mitcham. And Surrey CCC. And Wimbledon Dons Speedway (RIP)
- Nairn's Cheese Oatcake
The take-away from Texas's power travails isn't that renewable energy is unreliable, it's that all power supply sources are vulnerable to unexpected weather events, occurrences which global warming is making more likely. Power facilities will need to be proofed to cope with a much wider range of possible weather scenarios and extremes.
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In the big 2003 blackout, we did pretty well. But it was a comfy mid-August, we live in a house and are healthy. People in high rises had to haul their goods up 24 flights of stairs, and people needing oxygen machines or other devices were quite frightened.
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Originally posted by Balderdasha View PostI'm trying to work out what would happen here if there was a complete power outage for weeks on end. We have a gas fired boiler which heats water for a central heating system, but it does require a minimal amount of electricity to start it in the first place so in theory, if it went out, it might be impossible to restart it.
If we didn't have our central heating, we don't really have an alternative way of heating the house. Our oven is electric, we have an electric microwave and an electric kettle. We have a barbecue and a smoker for outside use which wouldn't be much help. We don't stock much fuel for it anyway. We've got maybe one bag of charcoal and some decorative ornamental logs in the lounge which could be burned in an emergency. We have lighters and matches so could start a fire fairly easily.
Our house is probably better insulated than the average house in Texas but it wouldn't stay warm for long.
Hmm, am off to consider stocking the house with more useful survivalist stuff.
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For the reason TonTon states, a lot of the people under "boil water notices" will not be doing so.
The primary purpose of such notices in the circumstances is to attempt to limit the water company's liability to customers who inevitably get sick from untreated water.
And yes, the decision to construct an autarkic grid really was motivated by an obsession with avoiding Federal regulation.
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Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View PostThe take-away from Texas's power travails isn't that renewable energy is unreliable, it's that all power supply sources are vulnerable to unexpected weather events, occurrences which global warming is making more likely. Power facilities will need to be proofed to cope with a much wider range of possible weather scenarios and extremes.
It is cold every year in other places and these things don't happen. This is all likely due to their light handed regulation (noted above) and negligence dressed as "keeping prices low".
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Originally posted by TonTon View PostSorry, my rhetorical question was interpreted literally. Millions of people in Texas rely solely on electricity for all of their cooking and heating. They aren't going to be able to boil water. Luckily lots of them won't have access to water either.
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Even electricity grid systems as robust and winter-ready as Quebec's can fall victim to 'once every hundred years' events such as the Quebec Ice Storm. It's really easy to say 'they should have planned for this', but nobody in Texas is going to engineer a power grid for a Quebec-style winter storm. It simply makes no sense. The whole 'not a part of the national grid' is another matter entirely, I hasten to add.
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Originally posted by TonTon View PostEssentially, as always, the problem is capitalism. And people will die as a result.
https://twitter.com/summeranne/status/1362165929820385284?s=21
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Originally posted by WOM View PostEven electricity grid systems as robust and winter-ready as Quebec's can fall victim to 'once every hundred years' events such as the Quebec Ice Storm. It's really easy to say 'they should have planned for this', but nobody in Texas is going to engineer a power grid for a Quebec-style winter storm. It simply makes no sense. The whole 'not a part of the national grid' is another matter entirely, I hasten to add.
Texas has a very negligent attitude to power, end-to-end. It is all rather tragic and a lot of it will be negligence.
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https://twitter.com/kateweaverUT/status/1362221512577740800?s=20
Austin is an extraordinary place. But amongst other things it's the city of deals and money.
I've never been made to feel poorer than going into a menswear shop in Austin near the Capitol
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Originally posted by caja-dglh View PostOnce in every hundred year events happen a lot more frequently than once in every hundred years.
How do they calculate "one hundred year events"?
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