Texas was prepared for global warming but not the return of the cold

If only climate modelers had warned us that children would know what Frozen Fish Tanks were?

Instead Texas spent most of the last decade and billions of dollars trying to cool the world by changing its electricity grid.

Thanks to market-distorting policies that favor and subsidize wind and solar energy, Texas has added more than 20,000 megawatts (MW) of those intermittent resources since 2015 while barely adding any natural gas and retiring significant coal generation. — Jason Issac

Indeed Texas has the fifth largest windpower fleet in the world — bigger than everyone except China, the USA, Germany and India. But having that industrial fleet of free clean energy didn’t save Texas this week. What happened appears to have been a systemic wide failure on so many levels. But one of those levels surely, is the failure to winterize the grid. There are plenty of gas and wind plants in colder places like Canada and they run through winter just fine.

But the awful truth is, that it costs more to add these “heat and de-icing” features and with everyone planning for Global Warming, well, who needs ’em? It’s almost like ERCOT in Texas assumed the […]

Texas: day four without power and water for some, fishtanks freeze, pipes burst, “worse than Africa”

Even if the Texas situation resolves tomorrow the anger will burn for months

A few hours ago, about one quarter of Texas still didn’t have power. After three or four days without power some houses are so cold the fishtanks have frozen over. Some people have been without power for 84 hours straight and ERCOT — the Texas Electricity management can’t say when it will be restored (though they have just announced it might be soon). It is still operating under the EEA 3 highest emergency level. Many people have had their power return for a couple of hours only to lose it again. And there is a burning anger at the unfairness of it all. People say they can see houses, shops and office buildings “lit up like Christmas trees” but have had no power themselves for days. Some are using their cars to warm themselves and charge phones but after three days they are running out of gas. There are restaurants that are offering free food.

It’s so cold in Texas homes that fish tanks are frozen. pic.twitter.com/IRuDjpG5Af

— Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) February 18, 2021

Others are desperately using gas BBQ’s indoors even though it […]

Texas: 20 dead — Many now going 50 hours plus without electricity, heating, water

Things are still not looking good in Texas.

At the peak demand on Sunday in Texas the people were using 70 Gigawatts of electricity — an all time record. Then both wind and gas generators failed. Currently the ERCOT Grid is using about 42GW of electricity and ERCOT reports of up to 46 GW of generators being out of action. Total wind output is still under 3GW out of 30GW* of wind capacity.

The gas was the back up to the Wind, but Wind power can’t be a back up to the gas (or anything else).

An ERCOT press release claims that they still have to loadshed 14,000MW which means 2.8 million homes.

“As of 9 a.m., approximately 46,000 MW of generation has been forced off the system during this extreme winter weather event. Of that, 28,000 MW is thermal and 18,000 MW is wind and solar.”

It’s not clear to me how they arrive at only 18,000 MW missing of wind and solar. Perhaps they are only counting the 6 or so GW they expected to be able to use of windpower?

There is so little power that the electricity companies can’t even rotate the blackouts between […]

Texas at -20C, five million without power as Wind Turbines freeze

Welcome to Woke World where states pretend to control the weather while the weather controls the state

An Arctic blast; an ice storm called Uri, has frozen up half the wind turbines in the hot southerly Big State of Texas.

Supplier Oncor is warning it may be hours before power is restored. People are livid, their pipes are freezing, some have had no electricity for 12 hours. Their website is down, their phone lines are out. People can’t even report outages.

UPDATE: NY Times is already blaming Climate Change for the frigid weather.

While the wind turbines have been working at only 3 – 10% capacity in Texas. Gas wellheads have frozen so there are gas shortages as well. Details at the end below.

Anchorage, Alaska is warmer than parts of Texas.

At least five dead and 5 MILLION without power as winter storm Uri sweeps the nation, freezes wind turbines, plunges wind chills to -20 in Texas and causes tornadoes in the south west

Records will be broken in Texas

 

Daily Mail

Temperatures nosedived into the single-digits as far south as San Antonio, and homes that had already been without […]

Un-Greening: Mexico gives up on renewables, revives coal industry

Mexico, the eleventh biggest population on Earth, was all enthused about renewables a few years ago, but now they are actively winding back wind and solar and reactivating coal projects. Mines are being reopened, coal miners are being hired and the state owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has been told to buy electricity from its own coal generators before they buy electricity from the privately owned renewables generators.

López Obrador is called a populist, he talks of energy sovereignty, and speaks badly of predecessors who opened up the energy sector to foreign and private interests. He vowed to put ” at least 80% of the budget – into fossil fuels.””

Mexico was once a climate leader – now it’s betting big on coal

David Agren in San Juan de Sabinas, The Guardian

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as Amlo, has unveiled plans to buy nearly 2m tons of thermal coal from small producers like Rivera. He also plans to reactivate a pair of coal-fired plants on the Texas border, which were being wound down as natural gas and renewables took a more prominent role in Mexico’s energy mix.

Not […]

NATO Chief wonders about Solar Powered Battle Tanks

Is there a better badge to show the intellectual collapse of The West than the idea, from a NATO chief, that we should put solar panels on battlefield tanks? One hundred years from now, there will be a stage in the collapse of civilization called the “Solar powered battle tank” phase. An idea so radioactively stupid that any science writer’s first question is “is this satire?”

Apart from the whole power to weight ratio non-starter, there is the problem of night time and rainy-day warfare, camoflaging a shiny surface, and the general vulnerability of glass and electronics in a situation known to “have bullets”.

Oh the dilemma: how to camouflage solar panels and also collect sunlight?

Not only are these Solar Powered Tanks at risk of being immobilized by a stray shot, they could be struck down with a paint bomb.

Another day in Fall of the West Nato chief suggests battle tanks with solar panels as militaries go green

Thomas Harding, National News

The Nato chief [Jens Stoltenberg] suggested that militaries should advance research into low-emitting vehicles because of the advantages they bring, at an online seminar titled New Ideas for Nato 2030.

[…]

West Australian conservative party wants close coal plants and lose election Bigly

Watch this space. The Western Australian election is four weeks off and the new young Liberal (“Conservative”) opposition leader has just made this a “climate change” election and launched himself to the left of the Labor Party by suggesting the state can close all government run coal plants by 2025.

Epic loss coming. The opposition leader may even lose his own seat (Dawesville, in Mandurah, held by only 0.8%). The National Party and minor conservative parties could do well from the aftermath.

Aiming for political correctness in a politically incorrect state?

WA political landscape turned on its head as Liberals outline renewable energy policy

[ABC News] One major party is making the case that renewables are the way of the future, the other is warning they will cripple jobs and send power prices skyrocketing. …it is politics as usual in Australia for the past decade. Except in this case, it is the WA Liberal Party calling for coal to be tossed aside and wind and solar to take its place, with Labor blasting the idea as “reckless”.

The Liberal Party were on a hiding to nothing before this announcement. The local Labor Premier hit 90% […]

In 2020 China built three times more coal power than the rest of the world

Coal power is surging in the second largest economy even as China tells the rest of the world to “cut carbon”

If, hypothetically, China were to fund anti-coal groups in the countries it competes with — it would be a successful strategy to hurt them and advantage China. Which journalists would tell us if that were happening?

China’s new coal power plant capacity in 2020 more than three times rest of world’s: study

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China put 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity into operation in 2020, according to new international research, more than three times the amount built elsewhere around the world and potentially undermining its short-term climate goals.

The country won praise last year after President Xi Jinping pledged to make the country “carbon neutral” by 2060. But regulators have since come under fire for failing to properly control the coal power sector, a major source of climate-warming greenhouse gas.

Including decommissions, China’s coal-fired fleet capacity rose by a net 29.8 GW in 2020, even as the rest of the world made cuts of 17.2 GW, according to research released on Wednesday by […]

Wokeyleaks — the shallow sickness and obsession of the fameroise

* ! — Site will be down for a while tonight.

Nice. A weapon against the SJW phenomenon

As I have said from the beginning: virtue signaling is primarily driven by the need to “Impress people at Dinner Parties”. Money matters, but status matters even more so. (What do people spend all that money on — gaining status…) Popping this phenomenon is a “must have” on the bucket list of rescuing civilizations and here it is — a nice new pointy social tool.

They/Them is an insider voice from the glitterati elite who got fed up with the emptiness and hypocrisy of the uber famous game and is whistleblowing on the shallow self interest that drives the virtue signalers. These are the celebrity SJW’s who pretend to care about the downtrodden while they send each other selfies on high tech boxes made by slaves in china. What They/Them is doing is not just exposing the hypocrisy, and adding a new vocabulary — like the Fameoisie — but also opening a safe path for those trapped in the bubble to start that conversation. Right now, bullying and fear keep them silent. They/Them is planting a seed. I’ll explain more […]

Where are the media

It feels like a public service announcement just to say watch this Tucker Carlson segment because you *may not* find out on your nightly news that thousands of national guards are flowing in to Washington DC (still) for unstated reasons. In Biden’s first week in office the US military has also moved in to Syria. Apparently, Iran is now within weeks of getting nuclear weapons. We can all see where this is going.

The democrats have realized finally that the enemy is within — but they aren’t talking about the junk journalists or the corrupt politicians — they mean congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

h/t John M.



8.7 out of 10 based on 53 ratings

What will unify the USA–  How about hatred of the corruptocrats?

The USA might just unify despite Joe Biden. There are not many things that can bring the Occupy and Antifa crowd together with Proud Boys but sticking it to the overlords of Wall Street is just the ticket.

The Gamestop monster battle between the ruling class and the peasants

The naked short sellers of Wall Street were never a healthy part of a free market — they were selling shares they didn’t own. Their predatory behaviour could create the very destruction they profited from, ruining potentially productive assets in the process. In a bonfire of gambling greed, the Predators could effectively sell more shares than even existed — betting they could drive the price lower and buy back for a bargain. But the little-guy-punters in the reddit/Wallstreetbets crowd got organized and called the bluff. They pushed the $4 stock to $400, busting the Smarty-pants players and reveling in it. There are estimates that hedge funds have already lost nearly $20 billion. One group of short-selling gurus have been burnt so badly they’ve abandoned publishing short selling research. The wake from this is just beginning.

The problem for the Democrats is that this wave is a form of Draining The Swamp. […]

SUV’s rule: Everyone believes in Climate Change but votes for Gasoline

Transport accounts for 15% of human emissions of CO2, or practically nothing.

Despite the lip service everyone pays to “climate change” when Leonardo asks them to buy a smaller car, they nod and buy an SUV. They are voting with their wallets.

 

SUV growth, graph. 2020

 

Rise of SUV’s Complicates efforts to rein in Auto Emissions

Scott Carpenter, Forbes

…SUVs are conquering the world. ….For the first time ever in the U.S. last year, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) likely accounted for half or just over half of all vehicles sold, according to recent data from IHS Markit, a data and analytics firm. Others are rapidly catching up. Between 2010 and 2019, the share of SUVs in overall car sales in China jumped from 14% to 44%. In Europe the SUV share climbed from 10% to 36%.

Seas are rising, storms are coming, and heat waves are wiping out crops and ski seasons, but half of all new car buyers are buying SUV’s in the USA.

h/t GWPF

 

9.9 out of 10 based on 65 ratings […]

Earth to Joe Biden: Canceling Keystone XL Pipeline Is a Gift to China and Russia

Will cancelling the Keystone Pipeline improve the weather in 100 years, or are the main beneficiaries trucks, trains, China, Russia and Venezuela?

Who, exactly, is Joe Biden working for?

Keystone pipeline route

Daniel Turner writes about how Cancelling Keystone is a gift to China and Russia

Joe Biden’s plans to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline is a gift to someone. The radical green groups for sure: they have opposed the oil link since its inception. The trucking and railroad industry will benefit, too, because once the pipeline is stopped, then the oil will be transported in and around America by something with wheels. It’s also a gift to our adversaries: for who will benefit when America and Canada can’t bring their fossil fuels to market? The competition. Russia and Venezuela will be thrilled to know their market share will increase thanks to the Biden Administration’s fumble.

Joe Biden wants to get zero emissions with more trucks and fewer pipes:

Know what has emissions? Trucks and trains. Know what doesn’t? Pipelines.

Which is riskier, pipelines or trucking? Four deaths versus 4,862.

Are pipelines scary? If you think so, I have the plot of […]

Insurrection now means “asking questions”

Tucker Carlson lays out the radioactive hypocrisy of those who advocated insurrection and riots and now pretend to advocate for rule of law. The word “insurrection” had a whole different meaning in 2016 and for most of history.

Those who control the language…

Really worth watching. … 

John Matze ran a company that was worth half a billion dollars on Friday, but Parler went from number one in the Apple Ap store to zero overnight. Matze now says he can’t go home for fear of his safety. It appears that Parler have done a deal with Epik to shift there (which also houses Gab). Judging by this Newsweek article Epik are already so hated and tarred, they have no fear.

Silencing, blacklists, and electronic exile smell just like a Social Credit system. Will Americans let that stand?

If Global Corporations Walk Away from Republicans the GOP Will Have to Listen to New Voters

Stacey Lennox

“A significant majority of Americans, 73%, have a negative view of China. Continued international integration will hurt working and middle-class Americans the most. If Republicans plan on winning elections, these are the voters they will have to both listen to […]

Bill Gates new Climate Plan — save the world and buy your own private jet airline?

The new book coming in 4 weeks to set out his plan for reaching zero emissions.

Bill Gates, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

In the meantime Bill Gates is bidding 4.3 billion dollars to buy a whole airline. Signature Aviation is a company that handles 1.6 million private jet flights a year, all of which produce about 40 times as much carbon per passenger.

Who cares about carbon then?

Private Jet, Image by AlCapone31

h/t Stephen

DailyMail UK

This isn’t the first time Gates has been slammed for his double standards around the climate change agenda.

9.7 out of 10 based on 30 ratings […]

Big Tech Axes Parler. They are very afraid of Donald Trump and his supporters

What happened to the first amendment?

Parler will be tossed off Amazon at midnight US time tonight. Friday, Parler jumped to the #1 app in Apple’s app store. Saturday Apple tossed it off.

The Tech Giants run the country. They control the conversations of millions of people.

ZeroHedge: Parler saw approximately 210,000 installs globally on Friday 1/8, up 281% from approximately 55,000 on 1/7, according to data from the analytics service Sensor Tower. “In the U.S., the app saw approximately 182,000 first-time downloads on 1/8, up 355% from about 40,000 installs on 1/7. Since Wednesday, the app has seen approximately 268,000 installs from across U.S. app stores,” a press rep from Sensor Tower wrote in an email. -TechCrunch

Parler promise to set up again by noon tomorrow

The defiant message from John Matze of Parler:

10:10 PM ET: Sunday (tomorrow) at midnight Amazon will be shutting off all of our servers in an attempt to completely remove free speech off the internet.

We prepared for events like this by never relying on amazons proprietary infrastructure and building bare metal products.

…Amazon, Google and Apple purposefully did this as a coordinated effort […]

Weekend Unthreaded

Another political thread coming soon.

8.5 out of 10 based on 12 ratings

Politically correct spies? CIA withheld China Intel because they didn’t want to help Trump

If China was trying to influence the US elections, the US Intelligence chose to help China rather than the sitting US President.

Remember the Intelligence Report on Foreign Interference on the US election that was due on December 18th? It was part of Executive Order 13848 and due within 45 days of the US election, but it was only delivered on Thursday to Congress, whereupon it vanished entirely under the PR weight of the Congressional Storm. So it was too late to be useful.

Apparently there is already an Ombudsman Report on it, by Barry Zulauf, who laments “the polarized atmosphere [which] has threatened to undermine the foundations of our Republic, penetrating even into the Intelligence Community.”

The President wanted a report on foreign interference. The Director of the National Intelligence (DNI) wanted a report, and the people of America wanted it, but that still it wasn’t enough to overcome the bureaucratic inertia and resistance.

US Intelligence Report on China withheld because of excuses:

Intelligence analysts downplayed Chinese election influence to avoid supporting Trump policies, inspector finds

Jerry Dunleavy, Washington Examiner:

“Given analytic differences in the way Russia and China analysts examined their targets, China analysts […]

Live Vote flipping in Georgia — Updated: Hold those claims. Needs confirmation.

UPDATE: The claims from the Data Integrity Group in the Georgia Senate Hearing about votes being withdrawn need to be confirmed.

I had some frivolous fun with the post for a few hours, but these claims need checking before anyone takes them further. Tel raises the point that Putnam County is small and the alleged “flips” are very large. In Putnam there were only about 17,000 votes in total, so a flip of 6,000 votes is nearly a third of all votes. Further investigation suggests a flip of 17,000 votes in Dougherty County is about half the vote. In Dodge County, Georgia, there were only 8,000 voters in total. Bibb County is the largest county with around 70,000 voters — but even there a 12,173 vote flip is still 17% of the vote. These are big claims. Perhaps too big.

In light of that, until these flips get confirmed or explained in relation to the size of the county, lets stick with the many examples of voting irregularities that are easier to verify. The graphs and discussion are left here below in case someone can shed light either way on the situation.

_________________________________________

9.1 out of 10 based […]

Trump wins ‘Most Admired Man’ in America but days later Google still finds Obamas win

Ponder that the most popular man in America allegedly just lost an election to a man who polled one third his score in a popularity contest. It’s just a poll but Trump ranked first with 18% of Americans in the Gallup poll. This occurred while almost all the media were describing him as a delusional sore loser trying to overthrow democracy. Joe Biden, on the other hand, won just 6% while he is riding high in the honeymoon glow. It’s as good as it can get.

Meanwhile 4 days later and Google still shows Obama in a tie with Trump:

Google Search: Most admired man in America

Even Google’s carrier pigeons have TDS

In the latest news: Republicans vote to protect the TechGiants against being sued as publishers. Section 230 protection continues. Is this the slow suicide of the Republican Party?

9 out of 10 based on 54 ratings […]