Mesquite Texas Giving Out Free Firewood

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2021/02/17/mesquite-will-pass-out-free-firewood-wednesday/

Free firewood in Texas to keep warm. You just know someone will burn down their house.

I have family and friends outside of Houston and its a mess. Some power just came back yesterday and then lost again today. Some have been without power the whole time. No water, freezing pipes. They are not equipped to handle this.
Sad to see.

I spoke to an old friend in Texas last night. He is just north of Dallas and has not lost power once. He says it might be because he lives close to a fire station but who knows. No rhyme or reason to some of the outages. He sent me a picture of his main boat launch and it looked like a boat launch here in early Dec. Ice about twenty yards out and snow covered.

Lots of boat owners down there scrambling and asking how to winterize engines and other systems in the forums. I’ve had a 4 day cold (is there such a thing?). Texas and one other state are tied for the most cold related insurance claims because it never freezes in TX.

On a side note I think we’re seeing the downfalls of wind turbines…

Brian Klawitter wrote:

On a side note I think we’re seeing the downfalls of wind turbines…

Errr…Uhh?

Denny O wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brian Klawitter wrote:</div>
On a side note I think we’re seeing the downfalls of wind turbines…

Errr…Uhh?

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climate change isn’t a thing tho

eyeguy507 wrote:

climate change isn’t a thing tho

The climate has never stopped changing since long before we were here.

Personally I’m more concerned with these “green initiatives” than I am about climate change.

From what I’ve heard the wind turbines only account for 10% of their energy. On a side note, Climate and Weather are NOT the same.

**delete**

nord wrote:

From what I’ve heard the wind turbines only account for 10% of their energy. On a side note, Climate and Weather are NOT the same.

This is accurate BUT the wind and solar grids are what controls the rest of the grid. So when they fail that is what is causing the blackouts. Texas is unique in that they have their own grid and are not tied into any other state’s system. Had that not been the case power could have been “lent” to them from neighboring states. It happens all the time. MN is on the “Eastern” grid and if for example Ohio had issues, MN could technically shift power their way.
I talked to my buddy in Tomball (outside of Houston) and so far his pipes did freeze, but he caught it fast enough and had a space heater and some pipe insulators to fix it quickly. Their issue down there is that their plumbing runs through the attic unlike up here. They even have plumbing running in outside walls which we know is a bad idea. They dont have the building codes like we do, they deal with hurricanes, not severe cold like this.
They also own their own fabricating shop and have been closed since this started. He was headed there today to see if there were any issues there. Fingers crossed.

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Denny O wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brian Klawitter wrote:</div>
On a side note I think we’re seeing the downfalls of wind turbines…

Errr…Uhh?

That picture is 20 years old and taken in Sweden.

CaptainMusky, why doesn’t this happen in Minnesota, or does it?

nord wrote:

CaptainMusky, why doesn’t this happen in Minnesota, or does it?

I can’t answer that question as well as Cpt. Musky probably can, but I do know that in MN part of emergency procedures are to contact other utilities and outside resources and let them know we need to purchase power from them. So I’m guessing the infrastructure is already in place to do that, because as others have stated we are able to share power with other states.

From what I’m gathering, and I’m learning this all for the first time like many, is that Texas isn’t set up like that.

Dan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>nord wrote:</div>
CaptainMusky, why doesn’t this happen in Minnesota, or does it?

I can’t answer that question as well as Cpt. Musky probably can, but I do know that in MN part of emergency procedures are to contact other utilities and outside resources and let them know we need to purchase power from them. So I’m guessing the infrastructure is already in place to do that, because as others have stated we are able to share power with other states.

From what I’m gathering, and I’m learning this all for the first time like many, is that Texas isn’t set up like that.

This is exactly it. It probably does occur here BUT there are failovers in place so we dont see nearly the interruptions that are being seen in Texas now because they are isolated within state boundaries. I do not know however if MN uses solar and wind to drive the grid like Texas does, but we can all see all the wind and solar growth in recent years they obviously contribute in some fashion. All of the solar arrays near me have been covered in snow. One would think they could invent some sort of heating system to take care of that.

I haven’t been following this closely but the only report i really heard in passing said the systems responsible for the failures were mostly coal and fossil fuel based systems not solar and wind. Anything you here on this subject is tainted with politics though anyway.

i think its literally impossible at this point to get a genuine discussion on this topic without the message being influenced by politics. Right will blame green technology and left will say it was the fossil fuels. round and round we go.

Really a messed up situation down there in Texas right now. Really feel bad for all those folks down there. It sure seems like a situation that’s not going to get sorted out very quickly and will have long lasting effects both in terms of new proposals for power infrastructure and for the work it will take to fix all the damage

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>munchy wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Denny O wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brian Klawitter wrote:</div>
On a side note I think we’re seeing the downfalls of wind turbines…

Errr…Uhh?

That picture is 20 years old and taken in Sweden.

It’s actually 7(2014), but yeah the problem didn’t just start and obviously won’t fix itself.

Texas electricity sources from ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas)
Natural gas (51%)
Wind (24.8%)
Coal (13.4%)
Nuclear (4.9%)
Solar (3.8%)
Hydro, biomass-fired units (1.9%)

The issues in Texas primarily result from transmission failures due to downed lines and the Texas grid being isolated from neighboring states’ grids to mitigate federal “interference” in Texas state affairs. Working well for them.

I dont think anyone is disagreeing that the way Texas’ grid is setup is is an issue.

However, What BK originally said was wind(I’ll also add solar) has a major downfall from snow and ice. And when you have certain politicians pushing for an over the top fix by having 100% renewable energy(mostly wind and solar) by 2030 comes a HUGE risk.

The wind and solar companies have had the chance to perfect this stuff for 50 years, why is it not fixed by now if the capability is there? Mayhaps the capability is there, however the power used by something like a heater likely uses more electricity than is generated by a solar panel with little/no solar, or wind turbines with little/no wind.

crappie55369 wrote:

I haven’t been following this closely but the only report i really heard in passing said the systems responsible for the failures were mostly coal and fossil fuel based systems not solar and wind. Anything you here on this subject is tainted with politics though anyway.

Texas gets the majority of their power from non-renewables. Their systems are designed to have a capacity of 67,000 megawatts in winter (lower demand) taking pieces offline for maintenance and 86,000 in summer (AC season). What they couldnt foresee happening was the bitterly cold temps freezing natural gas lines and being so cold the wind turbines stopped spinning. 46,000 megawatts of their capacity were offline yesterday. That’s 2/3 of their expected power output gone.
Since their electrical market is a wholesale market the cost per megawatt went from $20 to $9000! So there is also potential for corruption in the market itself as well. They’ve had issues with cold in the past (2011 and 2018) and the governing body over these systems devised guidelines, but they were voluntary and expensive so few if any changes were made.
No one thing led to this failure, its got fault all over the place. This will take a long time for them to recover from. All of the damage to homes how on Earth are they going to be able to fix that and just the amount of damage to the homes when the pipes burst?! Sheesh. Its not isolated to lower levels of the home like it primarily would be here, its from the top down.
They dont even have freeze proof faucets on the outside of their homes and those freeze all the time but that is usually thawed the next morning. We are going to see sheetrock, copper, etc prices skyrocket following this and a massive shortage. As if building supplies were not already dramatically affect by the events of 2020.

munchy wrote:

However, What BK originally said was wind(I’ll also add solar) has a major downfall from snow and ice. And when you have certain politicians pushing for an over the top fix by having 100% renewable energy(mostly wind and solar) by 2030 comes a HUGE risk.

The wind and solar companies have had the chance to perfect this stuff for 50 years, why is it not fixed by now if the capability is there? Mayhaps the capability is there, however the power used by something like a heater likely uses more electricity than is generated by a solar panel with little/no solar, or wind turbines with little/no wind.

x1000. you cannot have all eggs in one basket and you cannot have 1 single point of failure. The other issue with wind and solar is expense, longevity and recycling. Useful life of a windmill is like 20 years, similar for solar. Then they must be “recycled” and where are the putting the hazardous materials from them like the batteries, etc and all the expense to mine for these?
Going green on the surface seems like a good thing to do, but there is a lot of waste and pollution happening at the expense of “green” energy.

Face it, the political push for wind & sun is driven 95% by votes and 5% by the stocks the politicians own. Wait….maybe I have those numbers backwards.

Dutchboy wrote:

Face it, the political push for wind & sun is driven 95% by votes and 5% by the stocks the politicians own. Wait….maybe I have those numbers backwards.

LOL!!

Regarding energy infrastructure, someone asked the question why its not as developed or robust as it should be if its been around for so long. Im not saying this is what happened in this case but throughout history big conglomerates like energy and oil companies have had massive political influence, money and resources. They have used this influence to obstruct the development of other industries before. There is a lot of information out there about the electric car industry being destroyed by big oil in the 60’s & 70’s for example.

Again not saying this is a big factor when discussing this topic but its something to keep in mind. The limitations of alternative energy solutions and whose at fault for that might not be entirely at the feet of the companies designing it if the playing field hasn’t been level for the last 100 years.

I just talked with my buddy and I asked about his shop. The shop is fine, he has about half staff in today. The rest are dealing with massive issues at home. Roofs, ceilings collapsed, frozen pipes, no water, no power. Its a mess. I feel so bad for them. Before the storm even hit the stores were overrun by hoarders, now the hardware stores are a disaster if they are even able to be open.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I just talked with my buddy and I asked about his shop. The shop is fine, he has about half staff in today. The rest are dealing with massive issues at home. Roofs, ceilings collapsed, frozen pipes, no water, no power. Its a mess. I feel so bad for them. Before the storm even hit the stores were overrun by hoarders, now the hardware stores are a disaster if they are even able to be open.

Man what a disaster! I feel terrible for people down there. I hope they get the help they need and quickly!

crappie55369 wrote:

Regarding energy infrastructure, someone asked the question why its not as developed or robust as it should be if its been around for so long.

There’s a lot to digest with this statement, but to say the infrastructure is not robust or developed I think is a reach. Not all that long ago the US electrical “grid” (used loosely) was a host of thousands of individual electric utilities that worked within their little silos. These utilities began to interconnect as the demand increased to form the 3 major interconnections we have now. By doing this they had economies of scale to upgrade the systems with various technology and share the costs/benefits among them.
Texas is in a pickle because they are the third grid essentially getting little if any power from anyone else but eating all the expense for upgrades. The East and West grids are also tied into Canada further extending redundancy.
The was a cataclysmic storm. Compare it to the Halloween Blizzard or something. Something you really cannot prepare for or see coming. Regardless of what they did in preparation years ago, there would be issues, probably not to the scale they are having now, but there would be.

crappie55369 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
I just talked with my buddy and I asked about his shop. The shop is fine, he has about half staff in today. The rest are dealing with massive issues at home. Roofs, ceilings collapsed, frozen pipes, no water, no power. Its a mess. I feel so bad for them. Before the storm even hit the stores were overrun by hoarders, now the hardware stores are a disaster if they are even able to be open.

Man what a disaster! I feel terrible for people down there. I hope they get the help they need and quickly!

Yeah, not good. I wish there were a way to help, but how to you ship copper pipe and sheetrock? LOL My one buddy is a native Norwegian who married an American. He’s taking it in stride. LOL He’s home alone without power sitting in front of his fireplace while wife and kids are at her parents.

Try and ignore the political BS on both sides, the issue is they were not prepared for a once a lifetime cold front like this. Freezing is causing issues with renewable and fossil fuel energy, the same types of energy we use here when it’s -30.