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Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

cnn.com

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Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#161

Post by silverquiet »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #152
gunapologist99 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Houston actually has relatively low population density compared to other metro areas with only 3,842 people per square mile, and across the MSA (Houston is extremely spread out), that number is much lower. (Compare to, for example, Union City, NJ, with 54,138 persons/sq mile.) There are some 7.5 million people spread out across more than 10,000 square miles across the greater Houston area. Also, the water table is ve…

TLDR Texas is hosed as climate change accelerates and there is no will to pay to build resilient infra. Godspeed y’all.

I don't think it's really possible to predict what will become of Texas. One could imagine such a big, resource-rich state finding ways to work collectively for the better of all, though obviously that's naive to the point of nearly being a joke. Still there is a lot going for it in some sense. Politicians may not care about the people, but their beloved businesses also need infrastructure, so at least there's that.

I've lived in Texas my entire life and there are aspects of it that I love, but I do have vague plans to move north once my remaining ties to the state dissolve.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#162

Post by galdosdi »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #36

Germany has overengineered and expensive utilities, but I'm happy sometimes that all power and telephone lines are underground.

Another poster pointed out that the cost of moving lines underground is really only a one time fee of about $5 per person per month for about 10 years. This does not seem too expensive for a permanent increase in reliability. One thing I will miss about living in Manhattan is the power never ever went out, at least not due to the distribution grid.

And, it's a minor, minor thing, but as a bonus, having lines out of sight is very nice.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#163

Post by ndr42 »

wannacboatmovie wrote: post #102
ndr42 wrote: post #48

I‘m curious, Texas seems to get a lot of sun - how common are private solar installations on the roofs? Combined with a battery you could lower your electricity bill and would be safe from this kind of problem. In my neighbourhood in northern germany about 5% of the houses have them. They pay for themself in about 5-10 years. edit: spelling

Are you suggesting that the vast ghettoes and low-income areas in Houston all install solar panels and Tesla Powerwalls? Many people in hardest-hit areas struggle paycheck to paycheck- if they're working at all.

No I do not. I was not aware of the vast ghettoes. But some kind of middle class has to exist as the article headline talks about air conditioning - in Germany air conditioning is not common even in the upper middle class - this may be different in the US - idk.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#164

Post by galdosdi »

wannacboatmovie wrote: post #102
ndr42 wrote: post #48

I‘m curious, Texas seems to get a lot of sun - how common are private solar installations on the roofs? Combined with a battery you could lower your electricity bill and would be safe from this kind of problem. In my neighbourhood in northern germany about 5% of the houses have them. They pay for themself in about 5-10 years. edit: spelling

Are you suggesting that the vast ghettoes and low-income areas in Houston all install solar panels and Tesla Powerwalls? Many people in hardest-hit areas struggle paycheck to paycheck- if they're working at all.

This is what financialization is for -- allowing homeowners to get "free" panels in exchange for paying back out of the savings over the years. Leasing panels is not uncommon.

If these kinds of services don't exist in enough quantity, government subsidy could help.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#165

Post by sojournerc »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #139
sojournerc wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AC doesn't really create heat though, aside from minor amounts from the compressor/fan motors, it merely moves it from inside to outside, or into the metro stations as you mention.

Yes, AC moves heat from inside homes outside into the city.

My point is that it doesn't create heat, thus does not contribute to climate change on its own. Only the energy source that powers it potentially does.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#168

Post by genocidicbunny »

throwup238 wrote: post #132
genocidicbunny wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might have been normal but people are people and would still seek out more comfortable climates. And if you stretch the definition of air conditioning a bit, we've had that for about as long as we've been living in semi enclosed spaces. Running a fire at night to keep the cave warm is air conditioning. Building your home to have water flowing under the floors so that you can cool or heat the floors passively (I be…

Before the 20th century people seeked out arable land that could feed them reliably, any comfort the climate provided was a very distant concern.

Arable land and climates comfortable for people tended to have a very large overlap until the the invention of modern irrigation techniques like center-pivot irrigation. Before that, you need pretty special conditions to be able to successfully farm in many of the places in discussion.

Arable land that isn't habitable for weeks or months out of the year wasn't terribly valuable or sought out.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#169

Post by FredPret »

sonotathrowaway wrote: post #144
FredPret wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any country looks dystopian from the news. From the outside, your own country seems to have a dystopian liking for government control of speech and the internet. If your daily experience does not align with this perception, consider that Texans might be in exactly the same boat as you, perception-vs-reality-wise.

The attorney general of Texas is openly corrupt and is in the middle of a criminal trial. Acting like Texas isn’t uniquely shitty requires intentionally forgetting reality.

The government of many places, like the EU and Australia, openly and regularly make moves to crack down on individual freedoms in favour of state power - and they aren’t even in criminal trials.

Re: Houston-area residents enter sixth day without power, air conditioning

#170

Post by grecy »

spamizbad wrote: post #105

Why is Texas infrastructure so brittle? It’s a wealthy, prosperous state unencumbered by regulation or legacy stuff that tends to cause issues in other states.

Same reason healthcare, higher education and many other necessities of life are horrifically expensive.

Ever increasing profit.

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