The Great Texas Blackout of ‘21

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I said they are reliable as the sunrise & sunset, I wasn't specifically talking about solar power generation. They as in "renewable electricity generation sources," are, in general, reliable. We've had hydroelectric power here for decades - almost zero fossil fuel generation.. and the power almost never goes out - in fact, we have an abundance of it so we sell the excess to California. Various green energy types produce electricity in different ways under different conditions - turbines in rivers, solar panels, windmills, tidal power, wave energy etc. They can all be tied into electrical grids and batteries for storage just fine. There's almost zero concern about reliability. The only places they don't work in the winter are stupid places like Texas where there aren't any requirements to winterize components to make sure they work - same for houses.. all those burst pipes and freezing to death people? Don't happen in other places with colder weather because homes are built to winter standards - just as energy systems are in cold climates. Texas knew it should have required it's energy grid to be winterized and failed to do it because some Billionaire a**holes didn't want to pay the bill - cheaper to just let people freeze to death during a storm.

Umm, no. Renewable energy sources now cost less than fossil fuel sources in many areas, especially as technology improves (solar) and prices come down with mass manufacturing (especially solar) & so now we're at a point where renewable energy sources cost less than traditional fossil fuel sources - even without government subsidies. Very basic market forces of economics will dictate what types of systems are installed and used: Lower cost/Kwh = clear winner. Bonus that it's ALSO better for the environment. The only people saying otherwise are the liars at Faux News that are acting as talking heads for Big Oil Billionaires trying to scare people away from renewable energy sources that threaten their business models. That's it, that's all.

Feel free to google and fact check me - you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that solar & other green tech actually costs less then fossil fuel electricity plants and power generation and THAT'S why they're the fastest growing go-to methods of creating more electricity all over the world - unless you get your "news," from Fox.

They froze.
https://www.pipeline-journal.net/news/t ... hout-power

So, China has 3x the US' population but only twice the emissions? Sounds like they're kicking American ass when it comes to limiting per capita fossil fuel use. Hopefully they continue on that trend and further reduce their emissions - along with every other country on Earth, Canada included.

Mhmm. Gas lines froze. Wind turbines probably froze, too. Not because either had to - they have both all over Alberta and they don't freeze up because they're designed & built to continue operating in subzero temperatures.

Texas energy companies simply didn't want to heed the advice of past consultations after extreme weather events & pay the price to winterize things. They also managed to get the government to allow them to continue having a complete monopoly with no backup power sources, as well as the ability to charge excessive prices when demand is sky high - so they hit the jackpot when something like this happens.. whoever can still deliver power gets to charge $10k for it. Why would they want to fix systemic problems instead of legally price gouge when they weren't made to fix them?

I get the whole self service business reasons they did what they did.. but the Texas State government officials who are supposed to be making decisions in the best interest of Texans should all lose their jobs. Every single one of them that agreed to sing such ludicrous contracts with energy providers on behalf of their constituents - they should at the Very Least lose their jobs - maybe do jail time for criminal negligence causing death.

If renewable energy is so inexpensive and cost efficient, then why does it need to be subsidized?

Source: US Sleepwalking Into Clean Energy Disaster

Speed? Bringing clean energy plants online ASAP vs. too slowly to make enough of an impact on emissions reductions.

Job creation? If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of people out of work in your country right now.

If fossil fuels are so profitable & cost effective, why are they subsidized? Even here in Canada, Billions of dollars a year in subsidies & tax breaks go to Big Oil & Gas. Why? Should be zero. If we're going to subsidize energy, subsidize clean renewable sources instead of burning what's killing us and the planet.

If the world is really, really in danger of burning up due to man-made global warming, they why in the world would you give a free pass to China to build more and more CO2 belching power plants?

China is installing more solar farms than any other country.

China has also signed onto the Paris Accord and has committed to reducing their emissions.

How is anyone giving them a free pass?

All I noted was that Americans burn more fossil fuels per capita than the Chinese do, so it's a little difficult to point the finger at them and say they're the problem.

Everyone in every country has to do their part. That's the whole point of the Paris Accord.

This strawman was used the last time renewable energy was pushed strongly in the U.S. and it simply doesn't hold water. Most of these jobs will wind up in China, not the U.S.

Outrage as jobs at Scotland’s biggest offshore wind project go to China

Germany Pulls Plug On Wind Energy… Wind Industry In “Severe Crisis”…Wind Giant Enercon To Lay Off 3000

Governments are killing real jobs and conning us about ‘millions of good green jobs’
“Fool me once,” Stephen King wrote, “shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on both of us.” His adage certainly applies to the myth (and fake math) of green jobs.

During the 2020 election campaign, Joe Biden asserted that more than 3 million Americans are already “employed in the clean energy economy.” He then boasted that, “if executed strategically, our response to climate change can create more than 10 million well-paying jobs in the United States that will grow a stronger, more inclusive middle class … and not just in cities along the coasts.”

That would make Joe twice as boastful as his former boss, who promised the 2009 $787 billion stimulus package would create “over five million” green jobs. Four years later, the Brookings Institution reported that, “of the nearly 2.7 million ‘green jobs’ [the Obama-Biden Administration] identifies, most were bus drivers, sewage workers and other types of work that don’t fit the ‘green jobs of the future'” description.

Energy analyst David Blackmon later reported that Obama’s own Department of Labor acknowledged the initial failure to launch. DOL’s September 2011 report, “Recovery Act: Slow pace placing workers into jobs jeopardizes employment goals of the Green Jobs Program,” noted that only a third of the allocated funding had been spent; a fifth of the “degrees” and “certifications” went to people with a single day of training; and half of the “graduates” had five or fewer days of training. Just 2% of program participants held their jobs for at least six months.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted oil industry lobbyists as holding “green” jobs! The septic tank and portable toilet servicing industry had 33 times more “green” jobs than solar electric utilities. The BLS had to admit in a June 2012 report, “Green Technologies and Practices – August 2011,” that they could identify only 854,700 “green” jobs, including janitors and cleaners.

Source: The Myth (And Phony Math) Of ‘Green’ Jobs

Do you think it employs more people to install & maintain solar panels or watch oil flowing through a pipeline?

Hint: It only takes a handful of people to watch oil flowing through a pipeline.

My ex worked oil field in SoArk.He was derrickman. Single,double and triple rigs.Its a nasty dirty dangerous job.Most workers are missing a few fingers.Many have cancer.Once we drove through Smart oil field and for miles everything was dead.No trees, no plants just a wasteland.
My neighbor is from Lake Charles ,La.He was in a refinery accident where workers were killed.He gets a check now, but it won’t return his health.
Oil gives you places like cancer row in Louisiana.It kills people and the environment.
https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/citgo-p ... settlement
There are tons of lawsuits against the refineries there.
So there is a human cost for cheap gas.Do the pro-fossil fuel people ever think of the worker in the oil field or coal mine that is dying from their job?
Then the constant oil spills, it’s not if another will happen , but when.
It will take time to switch to green , and obviously there will be glitches.When people first started using gas in their homes it didn’t always go right.
Going green will save lives and the earth.So it’s worth it.
The green jobs should get priority in areas where fossil fuels are being phased out.Give them safe well paying jobs.
Refineries blow up, leak, emit toxic fumes with benzene.Solar panels and windmills don’t.
Refineries are always located in poor neighborhoods, rich people never live near one.
What would you want to live next to? A refinery or a windmill??

This is the Fort MacMurray Tar Sands in Alberta - it looks like Mordor and is one of the singe greatest environmental catastrophes man has ever created:

Last edited by goldfish21 on 26 Feb 2021, 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One thing you can say:

You never "run out" of wind and sun. Eventually, we're going to run out of oil.

Do people truly think we can continue raping the Earth of all her resources, and pumping poison into our air and seas without consequences?

Even if climate change isn't real, the chickens are going to eventually come home to roost. The kerfuffle in Texas is just the beginning. Eventually, we are going to have to stop prioritizing short-term gains over long-term stability.

Batteries are why this renewable crap isn't going to work. Look into what you'd need to build battery (electrical or hydro storage) infrastructure for a viable grid powered by renewables. It's impossible, the technology just isn't there and may never be, even putting to one side the land requirements. Either we stop being children and embrace nuclear fission for the time being or Texas style blackouts are going to become the norm in the First world as it is in the Third.

Impossible?  It already exists:

Those trailer-sized objects are the batteries that you claim are impossible.

Source:  Solar Farm