Once again, Texas suffering power blackouts, this time due to heat wave.

Sweltering Texans urged to reduce cooking and cleaning to ease grid strain

Quote:

As temperatures rise to unseasonably warm levels across Texas this week, its citizens are being asked to use less energy on basics like cooking and washing clothes to ease strain on the state’s power grid that is struggling to generate enough electricity to cope with the high temperatures. The move triggers memories for many Texans of the cold snap in the winter that incapacitated much of the state’s power infrastructure and raises fears that Texas – and other US states – are not prepared to deal with the extreme weather events that come with the global climate crisis. The authority running the Texas power grid has asked Texans to set thermostats to 78F (25.5C) or higher, turn off lights and pool pumps and avoid using large appliances such as ovens, washing machines and dryers. This is the second time that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot) has issued such a call for conservation since the winter storms in February left more than 4.8m homes and businesses without electricity for days. The crisis was blamed for more than 100 deaths and $130bn in costs.

If only there was some way that a state like Texas could connect their power grid to the rest of the nation so that they could purchase power from states that have a surplus. If only.

But of course, Gov. Abbott says everything's fine. I bet he has no problem getting cooked food and clean clothes.

Quote:

In this year’s Texas legislative session, lawmakers passed a series of reforms aimed at safeguarding the state against blackouts. At a signing ceremony last week, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, said that “everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas”.

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via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/35rtZcn