A panel of judges has said that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the 2021 blackout. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.
  •  Pete Hahnloser   ( @Powderhorn@beehaw.org ) 
    22•6 months ago

    What the whole fiasco did for me was realizing I can’t rely on power from companies whose alleged purpose is to provide power.

    I was lucky enough to have a gas stove, and this is how I didn’t freeze to death. I mean, when you have a shitton of snow and ice outside, boiling that is a simple matter. It was a moist but survivable time.

    Still, Snowpacolypse was a direct contributor to my decision to live off solar. When faced with a power shortage, two options are available: reduce use and increase supply. And paired, it becomes rather doable under standard Texas conditions to live off of 2kWh a day. I have a diesel heater for when things drop under 40F (5C), but otherwise, it’s blankets of increasing heat retention.

    I’d imagine people who didn’t experience what we did because of, say, reasonable infrastructure investments think this is overkill, but it only takes once to realize modern life requires a lot of moving parts, and when one gets fucked, you really want a backup plan. What ERCOT did, to my mind, was accelerate any nascent push toward self-sufficiency, which is actively against the power industry’s interests.

    I look at this news as “meh.” When the options are sue or plan for the future to avoid such a situation going forward, suing seems like weak sauce. Yeah, corporations don’t care about us, and yeah, it’s Texas. What the fuck did anyone expect out of this gambit?

    •  agegamon   ( @agegamon@beehaw.org ) 
      6•6 months ago

      When the options are sue or plan for the future…

      You’ve omitted the critical, first-priotity option: get out. Unless that I what you meant by “plan for the future…”

      Absolutely nobody who is sane of mind will look at texas, with its radical conservative “leadership” and sociopath 1% investors, and say “I want to stay here even though I could move.” And I’ll admit, I’m very quick to judge you for what you said: if you can afford whole-home solar, you can afford to move to a nice fucking house.

      Now, I was in the same boat.

      I left idaho (which by many measures is worse than texas) years ago, and have been trying to convince my family to do the same. They agree they need to leave that hateful shithole, but selling their home and uprooting from their tiny circle of non-psychopath idaho friends is still very hard. I’m going to end up digging deep financially to make it happen, but it’ll work out in the end.

      Still, nobody deserves to end their life in such a hateful place. Leaving is an option once you can afford a home, no matter what anyone says. And at least if people leave, they won’t be actively forced to support a radical conservative hate state.

      •  Pete Hahnloser   ( @Powderhorn@beehaw.org ) 
        5•6 months ago

        You misapprehend my financial situation. Yes, I’ve got solar on 75% of my roof, but it’s a stepvan. A lot of things collided this year that got me to the point of exiting the real-property market completely. And getting the fuck out is certainly on the table … it’s more a matter of “to where?” At this time of year, I like that my R-10 keeps me comfortable, and leaving Texas would almost certainly make that not the case.

        I’m looking for remote work such that “to where” can become a starting point. Companies have gotten much better in the past four years about sending “we don’t want you” emails, at least. Had a bumper crop of them this week.

        And things in Austin aren’t as shitty as in rural Idaho (my first wife was from Weiser). You can go out to dinner without hearing any slurs, and while that may sound a petty line to draw, that’s about the level of interaction I have with the outside world at this point.

        I’m also used to my vote not counting, just usually in the other direction. I did not move the needle in Oregon or Washington, and I don’t move it here. The novelty here is that we can pass a city proposition 80/20 and have the Legislature convene for a special session in our own city to ban at the state level the precise law we just enacted. It’s all theatre at this point.

        But having options, even if thus far unexercised, is a step in the process. I do miss being in my 20s and driving across the country for a new job, but I’m a bit more contemplative these days. If I can land a remote position, I’ll likely stay here through the eclipse, since that’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that at this point requires me to do nothing to experience and falls before I need to find an air-conditioning solution.

        •  agegamon   ( @agegamon@beehaw.org ) 
          2•6 months ago

          A van is certainly going to be cheaper to put solar on than a whole house LOL! That’s completely understandable. Yep, I’m sorry, I usually assume people are talking about homes because I don’t have a van, and so I misjudged youe capial involved as a lot more than I’d have. For van living I’d say it’s a must-have regardless of price, considering that you might not have grid hookups consistently!