Posted on 02/06/2011 10:18:30 AM PST by dragnet2
Forget all the concern about al Qaeda terrorists using explosions to take out our power grid or foreign hackers disabling it from afar - in Texas a cold front can apparently do the job.
As the lights flickered and went dark across Texas on Wednesday in response to a state-mandated rolling blackout plan, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst was clearly irritated.
He wasn't the only one.
"This should not happen," Dewhurst told reporters on Wednesday.
Dewhurst said that cold weather knocked 50 of the 550 power plants in Texas offline. That, coupled with increased demand, turned out the lights.
"Lack of adequate winterization and preparation appear to be a major cause of the outages," Dewhurst said.
The plant managers and the parent companies might want to make a note in their day planners for next year - "WINTER CAN BE COLD!"
The fact that we weren't properly prepared for it - and because of that computers and equipment all over the state came to a screeching halt - is simply inexcusable.
(Excerpt) Read more at seguingazette.com ...
On February 28, 2008 similar rolling blackouts in Texas were narrowly averted when a weather front idled most of the state’s wind turbines. I wonder if the current blackouts could in part be attributed to wind turbines being inadequate to handle the increased demand.
I guess it only got really cold in Texas. I haven’t heard of any rolling blackouts in any other states.
Thanks mate.
My storage experiences have been in the two year range max.
You say “metal” containers. This is a must - yes?
I’ve been using plastic.
Propane and lamp oil is only fuel I store long term. Power Services Diesel Additive is in my bed tanks on the trucks. I know stabil, marvel mystery oil, CRC Marine Diesel Fuel stabilizer, Amsoil are good products for such long term storage of bulk amounts etc ....
You have obviously put considerable thought and planning into this. Only thing I would be concerned about on the NG supply is electric grid outages which take down NG transmission pumps (compressors). No power, no gas. That is exactly what happened in NM.
You get so much evaporation out of plastic containers and some light gets in.
Thanks
Never have had such happen here in Panhandle of Texas.....yet !....:o)
Most of power brownouts and storms are localized, as in one is back on before the other goes out per se..... so NG is not interrupted in such a manner I am guessing.
Our basics are woodstove, oil lamps, convection cooling, and vehicles with the power inverters for emergency needs. Water is stored, 2 large katdyn expedition water filters allow us to rob the rain barrels, swimming pool and jacuzzi if needed for potable water. Also use a old pressure cooker for distilling water. Adhoc still per se.....suspect water in, steam out, condenser coil of copper tubing, clean water drips out.
2 large manual pump bug sprayers we use for showers when camping with the water saver heads on em fill the emergency shower system task. I used such in the desert w/ fogger heads for evaporation cooling as well. That of course takes a low humidity area to work best.
Just some ideas.....:o)
I have very similar stuff! I like the bug pump mist cooling idea for the summer. We are in an arid area so it would work well. We live next to the Columbia River and so have a huge source of easily-filtered water. Many times, filtration would not even be strictly necessary out away from the banks.
Ohhhh...LL your always good for total KO.....lol
“How’s that “deregulation” working out for you?”
Fine for me, my electric cost per kWh used to be 50% higher (but then I shopped for the best price) before deregulation. I do fear the ‘smart meters’, however, as they SKYROCKET the price of electricity during peak times - but then the entire country is getting that treatment, thanks to Obama’s ‘stimulus’.
And it would be nice if regulators allowed the utilities to build more power plants. The idea of allowing ‘community organizers’ to come into town and whip up the locals to stop these power plants is sickening. And now we have EPA regulating ‘greenhouse’ gases to make sure nothing more gets built.
Why do you ask?
Oh no......KO #2, to our disingenuous friend!
Sorry Suzy...Bone chilling cold and no electricity is something I like to avoid...But whatever spins your spokes is fine with me.
I don't come from Texas, but it didn't take long to come up with this list and maps of New Electric Generating Plants in Texas Since 1995. According to this data, since 1995:
152 plants have been completed producing 50,000 MW.
A further 81 plants have been announced which will produce another 33,000 MW.
55 plants have been mothballed or retired for a loss of about 15000 MW.
So the net gain (completed) in 15 years is about 35000 MW, which is enough to power about 30 million homes.
Sounds good to me.
Yep some folks like the metal bug sprayers as you can set them into a campfire to heat up then add the pump etc and get a warm shower. The fogger thang was a cobbled up desert storm deal I made in Qatar . Hot Hot HOT !....The fogger evap cooling was a blessing !
Simple stuff is what I sought for basic needs in storms an such that robbed us of commercial comforts of air conditioning and multimedia entertainment. So wood stove, library on paper, even PDF E-Books printed out etc , Oil Lamps, barking puppy and a 12 gauge gets us through the day if all else fails ......
STAY SAFE !
I was told all these blackouts was because it was cold...lol.
In any event, we're both crawling with illegal aliens, you guys now have rolling blackouts etc, so we'll call Texas, Texico and you can call us Mexiforia...No problemo.
BTW, the only reason we're here is it's 78 degrees, clear, sunny, and with a mild Pacific breeze..In February!!....It's like this nearly year round...Worth a fortune to us...lol
Best of luck to ya!
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