Power outage in Texas now

[Marion Morrison]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

As opposed to what? California or New York?

Texas is the greatest state in the union, without it, Americans would probably all be speaking Russian by now. You want freedom and individual liberty, you go to Texas.

Noone messus with Texas! No power outrage will hurt the citizens there, they are too tough for the snowflakes that melt at the sight of adversity.

Damn, I have nothing left to say!

Remember The Alamo?

 

[skye]

Could this power outage be related to Operation Gotham Shield? an exercise that simulates a large scale terrorist attack or 'Improvised Nuclear Detonation Incident' on the NY/NJ Metropolitan area.... and that exercise spilled over to other American cities?

This exercise starts April 24/25

I don't like drills, bad events come after drills as we all know. Oh well....may be not this time


Alert says US Feds will simulate a nuke blast over NYC/NJ | Daily Mail Online

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

Not at all. Try driving around any major Texan city, construction everywhere.

FWIW, no power problems or brownouts for the past several years. When I first moved here in 1998, it was common to lose power in storms, ice or thunder, but over the past few years, I can't remember a single power outage. Just in case, I do have a 9000W generator in the garage.....for the zombie apocalypse dontcha know.

Yep,all our power related problems are storm or ice related not due to overloading the system.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

There have been an inordinate amount of power stations going out lately.

Yeah I know Texas is known for a lot of " brown outs" esp . during the summer time from al the AC etc.

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

When I lived in the sticks and was on the co-op, when we had a blizzard we had brown outs. Didn't hurt us, as we a generator, food, beer, ammo, gas and propane.

That was due to inclement weather rather than to much power being used.

Ok, but doesn't extreme temps cause people to use more power? Maybe more than can be handled a small plant?

The heat is far more likely to cause overload problems because a lot of us have gas furnaces.
In fact every home I've lived in has had a gas furnace.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

There have been an inordinate amount of power stations going out lately.

No. You just have our resident conspiracy nut exaggerating them. I notice he didn't report on the wall sockets that were without power at my church yesterday.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

This is what happens when you don't invest in energy infrastructure...Things get old and go to shit.

You went to shit and you did not get old.

 

[theHawk]

There have been an inordinate amount of power stations going out lately.

Yeah I know Texas is known for a lot of " brown outs" esp . during the summer time from al the AC etc.

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

I lived in San Antonio for over ten years and we had quite a few black outs.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

There have been an inordinate amount of power stations going out lately.

Yeah I know Texas is known for a lot of " brown outs" esp . during the summer time from al the AC etc.

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

I lived in San Antonio for over ten years and we had quite a few black outs.

But they're not really common.
I dont recall Houston ever having a problem. That may be due to the importance of Houston industry and the huge amount of power they use so it's a more robust system.

 

[Divine Wind]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

As opposed to what? California or New York?

Texas is the greatest state in the union, without it, Americans would probably all be speaking Russian by now. You want freedom and individual liberty, you go to Texas.

Noone messus with Texas! No power outrage will hurt the citizens there, they are too tough for the snowflakes that melt at the sight of adversity.

Damn, I have nothing left to say!

Remember The Alamo?

Yes, lost the battle, but won the war.

In fact, at the Battle of San Jacinto six weeks later, the much smaller force of Texicans attacked Santa Anna, killing 650 Mexican troops, wounding 208 plus capturing Santa Anna himself with a loss 11 killed, 30 wounded in an 18 minute battle.
Yes, don't mess with Texas.

 

[Divine Wind]

There have been an inordinate amount of power stations going out lately.

Yeah I know Texas is known for a lot of " brown outs" esp . during the summer time from al the AC etc.

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

I lived in San Antonio for over ten years and we had quite a few black outs.

What years were you there? I remember living in Denver in the 1970s. 3 day blackouts every snowstorm, usually once or twice a winter.

 

[Divine Wind]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

Not at all. Try driving around any major Texan city, construction everywhere.

FWIW, no power problems or brownouts for the past several years. When I first moved here in 1998, it was common to lose power in storms, ice or thunder, but over the past few years, I can't remember a single power outage. Just in case, I do have a 9000W generator in the garage.....for the zombie apocalypse dontcha know.

Yep,all our power related problems are storm or ice related not due to overloading the system.

I think the solution here, and I live north of Fort Worth in the country, was to bury the lines.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

Not at all. Try driving around any major Texan city, construction everywhere.

FWIW, no power problems or brownouts for the past several years. When I first moved here in 1998, it was common to lose power in storms, ice or thunder, but over the past few years, I can't remember a single power outage. Just in case, I do have a 9000W generator in the garage.....for the zombie apocalypse dontcha know.

Yep,all our power related problems are storm or ice related not due to overloading the system.

I think the solution here, and I live north of Fort Worth in the country, was to bury the lines.

Yep..every home I've ever lived in in Houston had buried power lines.
I suspect the problem areas are older with power poles.

 

[MindWars]

There have been an inordinate amount of power stations going out lately.

Yeah I know Texas is known for a lot of " brown outs" esp . during the summer time from al the AC etc.

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

When I lived in the sticks and was on the co-op, when we had a blizzard we had brown outs. Didn't hurt us, as we a generator, food, beer, ammo, gas and propane.

That was due to inclement weather rather than to much power being used.

Ok, but doesn't extreme temps cause people to use more power? Maybe more than can be handled a small plant?

That's why I mentioned above " Brown outs" . Texas has those a lot , whether this is from that or not is hard to say right now. or when I posted it that is.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Yeah I know Texas is known for a lot of " brown outs" esp . during the summer time from al the AC etc.

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

When I lived in the sticks and was on the co-op, when we had a blizzard we had brown outs. Didn't hurt us, as we a generator, food, beer, ammo, gas and propane.

That was due to inclement weather rather than to much power being used.

Ok, but doesn't extreme temps cause people to use more power? Maybe more than can be handled a small plant?

That's why I mentioned above " Brown outs" . Texas has those a lot , whether this is from that or not is hard to say right now. or when I posted it that is.

Again..I've lived in Texas for 45 years and never experienced a brown out.... not once.

 

[MindWars]

The last time my power went out was in 08 when Ike hit....it was out for all of two hours.
I've lived in Houston,the most airconditioned city in the world,for 45 years and I dont recall ever having rolling brown outs.

When I lived in the sticks and was on the co-op, when we had a blizzard we had brown outs. Didn't hurt us, as we a generator, food, beer, ammo, gas and propane.

That was due to inclement weather rather than to much power being used.

Ok, but doesn't extreme temps cause people to use more power? Maybe more than can be handled a small plant?

That's why I mentioned above " Brown outs" . Texas has those a lot , whether this is from that or not is hard to say right now. or when I posted it that is.

Again..I've lived in Texas for 45 years and never experienced a brown out.... not once.

I wasn't saying YOU personally experienced it, I was simply just mentioning " BROWN OUTS" as a general cause of power failures.
I had it backwards anyway it is not from summer it is from Winter..........

COLD WEATHER BROWN OUTS
I work for a large electric utility company. The office building I work in is currently operating on half power. I arrived to work this morning with half the lights off, all of the non-essential s turned off, and an email message that the heat will be on and off intermittently during the day. The email went on to prohibit the use of personal space heaters.

Why? The temperature outside is 12 degree’s Fahrenheit. During extreme temperatures this electric utility browns out all of their offices. To be clear, I am only talking about the electric utilities office buildings. The reason given for the brown out is the extra load on the entire regional grid. While it is true that the entire regional grid is experiencing a greater load, the brown out of a few office buildings does little if anything to reduce the overall load. What I believe this brown out is really about is making a political statement. The utility always preaches to the customers to reduce their loads, be more efficient and save energy. So the utility is practicing what it preaches.

But this brown out reveals something about the mentality and will of the utility. Given the ability to control power usage, the utility will use it as it deems fit. And this is where smart meters come in. Smart meters are being pilot tested in several small test markets in this region. The smart grid is being sold as a way to save money for the consumer and add convenience. However the real reason the utilities want a smart grid, is to reduce their operating cost, and have the ability to monitor and control the entire grid from a single control center.

In an interview with Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, Alex Chadwick of Burnanenergyjournal.com discusses the smart grid and how it would work. In the conversation the terms “demand side management” and “central control” are mentioned. When asked about how the smart grid would work Jim Rogers gave this example.

“Maybe the best example for me to share with you is this. We’ve done a project in south charlotte where we put sensing devices in the equipment within a home. And when someone makes a decision to start their dishwasher, they push the button, there is a delay as it sends a signal to the refrigerator. The refrigerator cycles down and once it reaches a certain level the dishwasher kicks in, completes its work and then sends a signal back to the refrigerator and it cycles back up.”

This seems like a good idea right? What’s wrong with not having your dishwasher and refrigerator running at the same time? While that kind of management seems innocent, it’s easy to think of many ways this kind of control can be used to disrupt our lives.

What does this mean for the consumer of the future hooked into the smart grid? It means that when the utility deems that the overall load is exceeding capacity the control center can send a message to every homes meter in the region to go on economy mode. Want to watch TV? Sorry, the utility deems that as non-essential, your TV won’t turn on. Want to take a nice hot bath? Sorry, the utility deems that as non essential also, so you’ll have to wait till next week to bathe.

At the same time the smart control grid is being built, the source of affordable plentiful power is being destroyed. Coal plants are being shut down all over the nation. With the EPA’s heavy burdens and regulations, coal plants just can’t make a profit. And once coal is completely eliminated as a source of energy, the cost to the consumer will rise and the reliability of the entire grid will be weakened.

“Duke Energy leader Jim Rogers on smart grids & brownouts”
Alex Chadwick, BURN Host

Duke Energy leader Jim Rogers on smart grids & brownouts

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

When I lived in the sticks and was on the co-op, when we had a blizzard we had brown outs. Didn't hurt us, as we a generator, food, beer, ammo, gas and propane.

That was due to inclement weather rather than to much power being used.

Ok, but doesn't extreme temps cause people to use more power? Maybe more than can be handled a small plant?

That's why I mentioned above " Brown outs" . Texas has those a lot , whether this is from that or not is hard to say right now. or when I posted it that is.

Again..I've lived in Texas for 45 years and never experienced a brown out.... not once.

I wasn't saying YOU personally experienced it, I was simply just mentioning " BROWN OUTS" as a general cause of power failures.
I had it backwards anyway it is not from summer it is from Winter..........

COLD WEATHER BROWN OUTS
I work for a large electric utility company. The office building I work in is currently operating on half power. I arrived to work this morning with half the lights off, all of the non-essential s turned off, and an email message that the heat will be on and off intermittently during the day. The email went on to prohibit the use of personal space heaters.

Why? The temperature outside is 12 degree’s Fahrenheit. During extreme temperatures this electric utility browns out all of their offices. To be clear, I am only talking about the electric utilities office buildings. The reason given for the brown out is the extra load on the entire regional grid. While it is true that the entire regional grid is experiencing a greater load, the brown out of a few office buildings does little if anything to reduce the overall load. What I believe this brown out is really about is making a political statement. The utility always preaches to the customers to reduce their loads, be more efficient and save energy. So the utility is practicing what it preaches.

But this brown out reveals something about the mentality and will of the utility. Given the ability to control power usage, the utility will use it as it deems fit. And this is where smart meters come in. Smart meters are being pilot tested in several small test markets in this region. The smart grid is being sold as a way to save money for the consumer and add convenience. However the real reason the utilities want a smart grid, is to reduce their operating cost, and have the ability to monitor and control the entire grid from a single control center.

In an interview with Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, Alex Chadwick of Burnanenergyjournal.com discusses the smart grid and how it would work. In the conversation the terms “demand side management” and “central control” are mentioned. When asked about how the smart grid would work Jim Rogers gave this example.

“Maybe the best example for me to share with you is this. We’ve done a project in south charlotte where we put sensing devices in the equipment within a home. And when someone makes a decision to start their dishwasher, they push the button, there is a delay as it sends a signal to the refrigerator. The refrigerator cycles down and once it reaches a certain level the dishwasher kicks in, completes its work and then sends a signal back to the refrigerator and it cycles back up.”

This seems like a good idea right? What’s wrong with not having your dishwasher and refrigerator running at the same time? While that kind of management seems innocent, it’s easy to think of many ways this kind of control can be used to disrupt our lives.

What does this mean for the consumer of the future hooked into the smart grid? It means that when the utility deems that the overall load is exceeding capacity the control center can send a message to every homes meter in the region to go on economy mode. Want to watch TV? Sorry, the utility deems that as non-essential, your TV won’t turn on. Want to take a nice hot bath? Sorry, the utility deems that as non essential also, so you’ll have to wait till next week to bathe.

At the same time the smart control grid is being built, the source of affordable plentiful power is being destroyed. Coal plants are being shut down all over the nation. With the EPA’s heavy burdens and regulations, coal plants just can’t make a profit. And once coal is completely eliminated as a source of energy, the cost to the consumer will rise and the reliability of the entire grid will be weakened.

“Duke Energy leader Jim Rogers on smart grids & brownouts”
Alex Chadwick, BURN Host

Duke Energy leader Jim Rogers on smart grids & brownouts

The majority of homes in Texas use natural gas for heating.
Which of course means far less strain on the power grid than summer does.

 

[my2¢]

 

[MindWars]

That was due to inclement weather rather than to much power being used.

Ok, but doesn't extreme temps cause people to use more power? Maybe more than can be handled a small plant?

That's why I mentioned above " Brown outs" . Texas has those a lot , whether this is from that or not is hard to say right now. or when I posted it that is.

Again..I've lived in Texas for 45 years and never experienced a brown out.... not once.

I wasn't saying YOU personally experienced it, I was simply just mentioning " BROWN OUTS" as a general cause of power failures.
I had it backwards anyway it is not from summer it is from Winter..........

COLD WEATHER BROWN OUTS
I work for a large electric utility company. The office building I work in is currently operating on half power. I arrived to work this morning with half the lights off, all of the non-essential s turned off, and an email message that the heat will be on and off intermittently during the day. The email went on to prohibit the use of personal space heaters.

Why? The temperature outside is 12 degree’s Fahrenheit. During extreme temperatures this electric utility browns out all of their offices. To be clear, I am only talking about the electric utilities office buildings. The reason given for the brown out is the extra load on the entire regional grid. While it is true that the entire regional grid is experiencing a greater load, the brown out of a few office buildings does little if anything to reduce the overall load. What I believe this brown out is really about is making a political statement. The utility always preaches to the customers to reduce their loads, be more efficient and save energy. So the utility is practicing what it preaches.

But this brown out reveals something about the mentality and will of the utility. Given the ability to control power usage, the utility will use it as it deems fit. And this is where smart meters come in. Smart meters are being pilot tested in several small test markets in this region. The smart grid is being sold as a way to save money for the consumer and add convenience. However the real reason the utilities want a smart grid, is to reduce their operating cost, and have the ability to monitor and control the entire grid from a single control center.

In an interview with Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, Alex Chadwick of Burnanenergyjournal.com discusses the smart grid and how it would work. In the conversation the terms “demand side management” and “central control” are mentioned. When asked about how the smart grid would work Jim Rogers gave this example.

“Maybe the best example for me to share with you is this. We’ve done a project in south charlotte where we put sensing devices in the equipment within a home. And when someone makes a decision to start their dishwasher, they push the button, there is a delay as it sends a signal to the refrigerator. The refrigerator cycles down and once it reaches a certain level the dishwasher kicks in, completes its work and then sends a signal back to the refrigerator and it cycles back up.”

This seems like a good idea right? What’s wrong with not having your dishwasher and refrigerator running at the same time? While that kind of management seems innocent, it’s easy to think of many ways this kind of control can be used to disrupt our lives.

What does this mean for the consumer of the future hooked into the smart grid? It means that when the utility deems that the overall load is exceeding capacity the control center can send a message to every homes meter in the region to go on economy mode. Want to watch TV? Sorry, the utility deems that as non-essential, your TV won’t turn on. Want to take a nice hot bath? Sorry, the utility deems that as non essential also, so you’ll have to wait till next week to bathe.

At the same time the smart control grid is being built, the source of affordable plentiful power is being destroyed. Coal plants are being shut down all over the nation. With the EPA’s heavy burdens and regulations, coal plants just can’t make a profit. And once coal is completely eliminated as a source of energy, the cost to the consumer will rise and the reliability of the entire grid will be weakened.

“Duke Energy leader Jim Rogers on smart grids & brownouts”
Alex Chadwick, BURN Host

Duke Energy leader Jim Rogers on smart grids & brownouts

The majority of homes in Texas use natural gas for heating.
Which of course means far less strain on the power grid than summer does.

I have family in Texas lot's of family. of course who doesn't

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

As opposed to what? California or New York?

Texas is the greatest state in the union, without it, Americans would probably all be speaking Russian by now. You want freedom and individual liberty, you go to Texas.

Noone messus with Texas! No power outrage will hurt the citizens there, they are too tough for the snowflakes that melt at the sight of adversity.

Damn, I have nothing left to say!

LMFAO that was so freaking good Jim, don't yah hate that.
Can you believe even I run into that , me of all people ahhaahha.

 

[Indeependent]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

As opposed to what? California or New York?

Texas is the greatest state in the union, without it, Americans would probably all be speaking Russian by now. You want freedom and individual liberty, you go to Texas.

Noone messus with Texas! No power outrage will hurt the citizens there, they are too tough for the snowflakes that melt at the sight of adversity.

Damn, I have nothing left to say!

Remember The Alamo?

We lost. But at least they had boots.

 

[Indeependent]

Isn't Texas once of those states that disregards infrastructure?

As opposed to what? California or New York?

Texas is the greatest state in the union, without it, Americans would probably all be speaking Russian by now. You want freedom and individual liberty, you go to Texas.

Noone messus with Texas! No power outrage will hurt the citizens there, they are too tough for the snowflakes that melt at the sight of adversity.

NYC and LI are undergoing massive rebuilding.
We rarely have brownouts, let alone blackouts.
But Texas is HUGE and the factors in maintaining power across the state is probably more complex than NYC/LI.