Free Republic

Policies subsidizing generators, utilities, and unreliable energy have raised the cost of electricity in Texas by $19.9 billion in 2023, constituting 42.7 percent of total electricity costs. In a study published Wednesday by the Energy Alliance, the group found that the total government-imposed cost of electricity in the Texas Interconnection operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was $84.3 billion. Texas state and local governments are responsible for causing 85.7 percent of that $84.3 billion. “The massive increase in subsidies has done nothing to address the primary cause of unreliability in the Texas market, renewable energy,” stated Bill Peacock,...

The peak electricity demand in Britain is in the winter when we need to heat our homes, offices, shops, warehouses, factories etc. But in the winter solar farms produce almost no electricity in Britain. This is because it is dark for around 16 hours a day and when the Sun does appear it is weak and usually hidden behind thick cloud. Solar energy may make sense in some countries, for example the countries of North Africa, but building solar farms in Britain is completely brainless.The new Energy Secretary Ed Milliband has just given the green light to the biggest solar...

China's coal output rose to a six-month high in June, statistics bureau data showed on Monday, as mines ramped up production to meet seasonal demand ... The world's largest coal producer mined 405.38 million metric tons of the fuel last month, a 3.6% increase on the year and the highest since December ... Output will continue rising in the third quarter ... Output in the January-June period was 2.27 billion tons

Big Tech consumes more than many countries.. Tech giants Google and Microsoft each consumed 24 TWh each of electricity during 2023, surpassing the consumption of more than 100 countries, new research has claimed. Analysis by Michael Thomas, shared on X, claims both Google and Microsoft consumed the same amount of energy as Azerbaijan, which has an estimated GDP of $78.7 billion. Google’s 2023 revenue stood at $307.4 billion, and Microsoft’s at $211.9 billion. The massive energy usage underscores the substantial environmental impact of these companies. But it also serves as a reminder of their sheer scale, and the positive impact...

Nearly a million Texans were still without power on Friday. And the utility company with the most outages was facing threats of violence. ... HOUSTON — Eating becomes more difficult when the power is out. Ovens, refrigerators, microwaves, and electric stove tops become obsolete. L. Myra Gainous’ shopping cart displayed that at an H-E-B grocery store Friday afternoon. As the 83-year-old Houstonian left the store, her cart was stocked with chips, bread and fruit snacks — food she can eat until her electricity returns. Gainous is one of nearly 1 million customers still living without power five days after Hurricane...

CenterPoint’s project would have used the money “to fund high wind and flood mitigation projects.” President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy rejected Houston’s request to strengthen its energy grid in 2023. Houston entered day five of power outages after Hurricane Beryl. Maybe, just maybe, stop concentrating on your fantasy green energy: CenterPoint Energy sought the money from a new $10.5 billion Department of Energy program that is helping utilities, states and local agencies protect the electric grid from the growing threats of extreme weather and climate change. “I don’t understand how the grant application could be rejected,” University of Houston...

Fair Oaks Ranch residents may want to brace themselves for a couple of sweaty evenings and place those backup batteries in their alarm clocks. CPS Energy is planning to cut power to some 1,300 homes in the Texas Hill Country town twice next week. The shutdowns will run from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. Monday, July 15, and Wednesday, July 17. According to a somewhat vague statement from the San Antonio power supplier, the planned outage will accompany “scheduled maintenance improvements” in Fair Oaks Ranch which is slated to “improve the electric reliability in the area.” The planned outage is...

It's been pretty interesting watching the carefully worded but dire warnings coming out about just how tenuous the future of reliable power is in the Empire State. On June 6, the folks who manage and operate the state's electrical grid, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), issued their 2024 Power Trends Report. One of the first things that should have jumped out at Green Gov Kathy Hochul and the climate cultists in the state legislature should have been the #mathz. That alone would have given a rational person pause, but who are we talking about, right? There's only about...

The Government of Maine has really big plans for floating wind, a floating net zero fantasy, in fact. Since floating wind power is the next big green thing, it is worth taking a close look at this ruinous vision. Floating wind is a fad, not an established technology. It has yet to be built at utility scale or tested in a hurricane. The world’s biggest grid-connected system is a tiny 50 MW and just came online off Scotland. The cost of floating wind is necessarily much greater than fixed wind. A fixed wind tower sits on a simple monopile, while...

A nationwide electricity outage struck Ecuador on Wednesday, leaving the nation of some 18 million in the dark, including the capital's subway system, as authorities worked to repair faulty power lines, a senior official said on Wednesday. "There is a failure in the transmission line that caused a cascade disconnection, so there's no electricity at a national scale," Public Works Minister Roberto Luque said in a post on X. Luque also serves as the country's acting energy minister. A Reuters witness said there was confusion on the streets of Quito, the capital, as traffic lights ceased working. Operations of Quito's...

Authorities say gunfire was the cause of a fire Monday at a North Carolina power station that resulted in 730 customers to lose electricity. Emergency crews responded to the problem as a fire and equipment failure on Duke Energy’s power distribution grid, which resulted in customers in the Durham area [losing power], according to the Associated Press. The following day, the Durham Police Department responded to a call about damaged power equipment and was told the damage was the result of gunfire in the past week.

Opposition to wind and solar projects on the state and local level increased significantly last year, according to a new study by Columbia University’s Sabine Center for Climate Change Law. In 2023, the report found 73% more local restrictions than the previous year’s report released in May 2023, and 111% more state-level restrictions. “In nearly every state, local governments have enacted laws and regulations to block or restrict renewable energy facilities, or project opponents have succeeded in forcing the delay or cancellation of particular projects, or both have occurred,” the report states.

NBC 5 learned more about how leaders at the state's largest power grid think it will perform during upcoming hot Texas summers. ERCOT and Public Utility Commission leaders updated lawmakers in Austin Wednesday morning after a striking new report issued by the grid operator. They've long known that ERCOT, the state's largest power grid, is most vulnerable on hot late-summer nights as the sun goes down. That's when the big chunk of energy generated by solar power goes offline. It gets worse if the wind goes down as well, and wind generators don't run. According to a report delivered to...

As the Ukraine’s peak summer electricity season approaches, the list of the Russian General Staff’s Electric War targets is shrinking. This is because almost all the Ukrainian electricity generating plants have been stopped. What remains for destruction are the connecting lines and distribution grids for the Ukraine’s imported electricity from Poland and other European Union neighbours. The microwave and cell telephone towers, and the diesel fuel stocks which are powering the back-up generating sets are next. “There’s no keeping the Ukrainian cell network up any more than there is keeping up the electrical grid,” comments a close military observer [3]....

In 1929, almost a century ago, the great economist Ludwig von Mises published “A Critique of Interventionism.”It’s written in plain language and is free online. He described how government intervention in the free market is not socialism, but eventually “leads to socialism because government intervention is not only superfluous and useless, but also harmful. ... It lowers labor productivity and redirects production along lines of political command, rather than consumer satisfaction.”He died in 1973 at the good old age of 92 and was the teacher of Friedrich von Hayek, who won the Nobel economics prize in 1974.I bring up Mises...

I live in rural NE Texas, and we experience power outages often. Some last for days. This year, we've been hammered by bad weather, and this round is the 12th time I've been on generator power this year. I've played the "generator game" for decades, starting off with one that I thought would be just good enough to keep me going, running the bare minimum appliances until the power came back on. This was torture. In my opinion, most people make bad decisions when it comes to buying a generator. They think small, and short run times. The truth is,...

Coloradans will pay nearly three times more per kilowatt hour during peak times through Sept. 30.. DENVER – Xcel Energy customers in Colorado with smart meters will start paying more for electricity during certain hours this summer starting Monday, a measure company officials said is aimed at saving “everybody money.” The "time of use" pricing rate, which went into effect June 1, means Xcel customers will pay more than two times the price per kilowatt hour (kWh) if using energy during peak time hours, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Customers using electricity within that timeframe will see...

My residential electric service contract is up in about a month and just checked the markets for renewal. The rates have SKYROCKETED. I don't know if this is because of EV usage increase or just the general crappy economy under Biden, but it's about to price me out of home ownership. Anyone else seeing this? [Service company is Oncor.]

LOOMIS DAY | May 30 Each year on May 30th, Loomis Day recognizes the man who received the patent for wireless telegraphy in 1872. The Washington, D.C. dentist, Mahlon Loomis, received US patent number 129,971titled “An Improvement in Telegraphing” on wireless telegraphy in July of 1872 beating Guglielmo Marconi's United Kingdom patent by nearly 25 years. #LoomisDay Born on July 21, 1826, Loomis was also the inventor of artificial teeth and one of the earliest inventors of wireless communication. Loomis died on October 13, 1886. Leading up to his patent, Loomis conducted many experiments in electricity using kites flying miles...

ATF agents cut off the electricity to Bryan Malinowski's Little Rock home before executing their search warrant March 19. None of the agents wore body cameras, and they covered Malinowski's doorbell camera with tape to hide their actions. Fifty-seven seconds after kicking down the front door, Malinowski was fatally shot in the head. His wife, Maer Malinowski, was pulled out of her home wearing only bedclothes and forced into the back of a squad car, where she was held against her will for four hours in 34-degree weather, despite her frequent pleas to check on her dying husband. "If that...