Sounds like you have an almost perfect scenario there Ray! Anytime the Grands are snowed in with you it's a gift! Congratulations to both of you for 48 years of devotion, that is wonderful my friend and a testimonial to who you both are.
Clouds are rolling in as we speak and the freezing rain/3-5" of snow should be starting this afternoon. This, supposedly is the last round and it's going to be 50 by Sunday, but Sunday is a loooong way away. Boydo, Chandler and I are still scheduled to shoot his F/16 Saturday night even though the JRB is "closed" That might actually make the project easier. Got the Westcott strobe but I'm waiting for grids and a snoot from NY, sure hope they get here.
Just read a very detailed paper on Texas and this weather, it outlines how, if this had happened 10 years ago we would not be having the power problems we are experiencing because we had plenty of coal and petroleum energy generation sites to back up the main facilities. We have been duped (not that we didn't know it while it was happening) but the powers that be have and continue to pipe sunshine up our collective tailpipes while the dismantle one of the last bastions of freedom in this country.
BauerPower wrote:
Wow. An aunt and family lived up in McGregor. Loved seeing downtown Moody.
SpacEx has taken over McGregor with their rocket testing facility. They test all their rocket engines there. We feel every test as each one shakes our house.
Moody has a beautiful old town bank I would love to walk through to take photos. It is on my list.
How often does a huge power problem, due to extreme cold weather occur in Texas.
Perhaps the power systems were never designed for such extremes. Like asking a B52 to loop the loop. or a Mustang to carry a 50 tonne load of bombs.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Nobody better ever tell me all about “clean” energy again! We’re experiencing the green new deal right now, frozen wind turbines, ineffective solar sources. My pool is frozen solid and our house is nudging 45 degrees because “clean” energy sucks. If this keeps up, at that is the forecast, we’ll be lucking if all the pipes in our house aren’t doing an Old Faithful routine when things begin to thaw this weekend. Headed for 7 F tonite, only has two degrees to go, 17 tomorrow with freezing rain, followed by 3-5 inches of snow.
Yes that is balanced report, especially as Texas only has abut 13 per cent of energy generation from renewable..
It seems that the conventional nuclear and fossil fuel has not been able to meet demand, in such extreme conditions. Also huge amounts of Ice will bring down power lines and I presume grounds airplanes
In the UK we have the same kind of problems, when we get a rare snowstorm, as there is very little capacity for snow clearance. We also have problems with 'leaves on the line , in Autumn. Trains are too light to self clear the lines. The leaves get burnt and pressed in, making for no grip.
Unbiased information is the key and very difficult to find.
Boy I am watching TWC and you Texans are getting belted big time!!!!!
We had our"snowmageddon" a few years ago..52" in 2 back-to-back storms!!
Your storm will hit us starting tonight thru Thursday into Friday.
Stay safe and try to keep warm!!!!! It is a "3 dog night mates!!!!" The debate on fossil fuels versus clean energy is worthless. Common sense is lost in the fray. It only takes .01% of the 13% of "clean energy" to shut down Texas.
The USA is the largest producer of natural gas in the World.
Dan
Well it seems that energy derived from the weather is affected by the weather.As they say "who knew" How often does this happen? Once in 10 years,Otherwise it is very dependable. No one builds for such a contingency. Solution to use that copious energy and find ways of storing it, just like those fossil fuels, but much much less destructive and now involving the whole worlds in chasing its tail.
More burning of fossil fuels just heats up the world like a enclosed kettle.Store the sun's energy and use it. It can and will be done. Somewhere in the world the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. Cooperate and share it.
Many people in Texas and the US have large compounds. So they can get huge amounts of ground source heat by making a underground tank and filling it with water. heat source pumps will make hot water and also electricity.Also wind pumps can be use to heat these tanks. A large tank at 80 deg C stores a huge amount of energy. The technology is there to extract it. I though Americans believed in self sufficiency, this would achieve it. No relying on power grids. You could even power the grid. Imagine instead of whinging
Danpbphoto wrote:
Boy I am watching TWC and you Texans are getting belted big time!!!!!
We had our"snowmageddon" a few years ago..52" in 2 back-to-back storms!!
Your storm will hit us starting tonight thru Thursday into Friday.
Stay safe and try to keep warm!!!!! It is a "3 dog night mates!!!!" The debate on fossil fuels versus clean energy is worthless. Common sense is lost in the fray. It only takes .01% of the 13% of "clean energy" to shut down Texas.
The USA is the largest producer of natural gas in the World.
Dan
You folks in the south, particularly in Texas seem to be getting our weather! Unfortunately it would appear that your infrastructure isn't quite as prepared as we have developed up here. This past Sunday I went to church, had warmed up to -10F from last Sunday's -18F trip to 7:30am services! And this is just sorta a normal for us.
Then I look into the why you are having struggles and this is concerning for me. It's not the windmills froze up, sure that didn't help but it seems that almost half of your power generation facilities were off line at one point because they couldn't get traditional carbon based energy (read natural gas primarily) and I was truly concerned for recent events. If we can't produce/transport fossil fuels to needed areas why are we closing down pipeline projects/exploration/etc. For the next few days even in Iowa manufactures are being asked to suspend use of natural gas use to keep if for home heating, all because the nations infrastructure can't supply demands at the moment. So this is big, and it is serious, and near term decisions seem to be "feel good" in nature.
Don't get me wrong, moving forward I understand the science behind "climate change" and know that we (read the human race, all countries) have to reduce our carbon footprint to address CO2 values in the climate but what's the plan? It's the lack of a plan, not accepting extreme's in weather/etc will happen, and not looking forward that is so scary. To say that by 2035 the USA's electricity will no longer be carbon based as has been proposed is a good goal but without a plan it's just a scary thing to chase after. Battery's are not the storage source to help Texas or any state through the current weather challenges so what is? What's the plan
and without a plan these events will only get worse and that just isn't fair to the people, PERIOD!!!
I am also concerned that the goal of moving from carbon based fuels removes possible solutions. I know that there has been significant research into capturing CO2 at stationary power plants to address it's release into the environment and work like this seems to make a lot of sense. Addresses climate change and at the same time doesn't require a total change to our current infrastructure. Sure there are problems with CO2 capture, what to do with it all............. but the real point is how do we move to the ultimate goal of not releasing green house gasses without crashing the greater society into a series of painful/stressful/costly issues cause by not meeting the energy needs?
Okay, time to go back to photo's and check in with Jim W to make sure his Dumb & Dumber off springs haven't put themselves in to the ER with "TOO MUCH FUN".
You folks in the south, particularly in Texas seem to be getting our weather! Unfortunately it would appear that your infrastructure isn't quite as prepared as we have developed up here. This past Sunday I went to church, had warmed up to -10F from last Sunday's -18F trip to 7:30am services! And this is just sorta a normal for us.
Then I look into the why you are having struggles and this is concerning for me. It's not the windmills froze up, sure that didn't help but it seems that almost half of your power generation facilities were off line at one point because they couldn't get traditional carbon based energy (read natural gas primarily) and I was truly concerned for recent events. If we can't produce/transport fossil fuels to needed areas why are we closing down pipeline projects/exploration/etc. For the next few days even in Iowa manufactures are being asked to suspend use of natural gas use to keep if for home heating, all because the nations infrastructure can't supply demands at the moment. So this is big, and it is serious, and near term decisions seem to be "feel good" in nature.
Don't get me wrong, moving forward I understand the science behind "climate change" and know that we (read the human race, all countries) have to reduce our carbon footprint to address CO2 values in the climate but what's the plan? It's the lack of a plan, not accepting extreme's in weather/etc will happen, and not looking forward that is so scary. To say that by 2035 the USA's electricity will no longer be carbon based as has been proposed is a good goal but without a plan it's just a scary thing to chase after. Battery's are not the storage source to help Texas or any state through the current weather challenges so what is? What's the plan
and without a plan these events will only get worse and that just isn't fair to the people, PERIOD!!!
I am also concerned that the goal of moving from carbon based fuels removes possible solutions. I know that there has been significant research into capturing CO2 at stationary power plants to address it's release into the environment and work like this seems to make a lot of sense. Addresses climate change and at the same time doesn't require a total change to our current infrastructure. Sure there are problems with CO2 capture, what to do with it all............. but the real point is how do we move to the ultimate goal of not releasing green house gasses without crashing the greater society into a series of painful/stressful/costly issues cause by not meeting the energy needs?
Okay, time to go back to photo's and check in with Jim W to make sure his Dumb & Dumber off springs haven't put themselves in to the ER with "TOO MUCH FUN".
You and many here know this already Jim! It is common sense and electronics,physics and science. Ice and mechanical rotation don't play nice!
Snow on solar panels...no electric!
Thanks for the "written word" Jim!
Just hunker down brother!!!
RD
Well we began this with 100 car pile up and it's gone downhill from there so that ship has sailed. Monday is going to be 61 degrees and Chandler and I will be taking the Cub to Sulphur springs for an annual. This will all be in the rear view mirror.
