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

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

#431

Post by supermatt »

lazide wrote: post #361
roenxi wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> EU is arguably more regulated than California, but the regulations here have more sense to them, and arguably higher benefit to cost ratio. The last time I checked the EU appeared to be in a full-blown multi-country energy crisis triggered by some of the most stunning displays of regulatory incompetence so far this century. So I would accept that the EU is more regulated but I don't think that is the sort of point…

The EU also has very high taxes and very high energy costs.

The EU also has low taxes and low energy prices depending on which states you are talking about.

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

#432

Post by snowpid »

roenxi wrote: post #422
snowpid wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"would be fighting tooth-and-nail to have my country not do what Germany did. The Texas grid, by comparison, looks like a paradise even if it is currently experiencing a week-long outage!" Can you clarify such strong words? I've never encountered any power outtage in Germany my whole life and Texas this looks fairly regular.

Electricity in Germany is somewhere in the region of 3x as expensive as in Texas. I'd prefer to have cheap power and a contingency plan for a week or so of grid outage than live with those sort of prices. I've been keeping an eye on how the situation in Germany seems to be developing [0]. It makes for grim reading. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/germany

Could you clearify what is the "grim reading" in your source?

Sure the prices are high in Germany (and this is a problem for industry) but as a private consumers you pay 50 EUR per month instead 16 EUR. Such hell! This is an inconvenience but for me power outage is a huge problem (especially 1 week!).

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

#433

Post by dx034 »

shiroiushi wrote: post #428
Symbiote wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In European cities where underground power lines are normal these issues aren't a problem. There might be costs (checking before construction for example) and it being normal it helps.

Europe doesn't have earthquakes. (Neither does Houston, but the previous comment did mention it as an issue in general.)

But Europe has frequent floodings, they don't seem to be an issue with buried power lines.

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

#434

Post by snowpid »

shiroiushi wrote: post #428
Symbiote wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In European cities where underground power lines are normal these issues aren't a problem. There might be costs (checking before construction for example) and it being normal it helps.

Europe doesn't have earthquakes. (Neither does Houston, but the previous comment did mention it as an issue in general.)

Europe does regularly earth quakes in Italy. Maybe Turkey , Greece, Balkan counties, too.

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

#435

Post by lazide »

supermatt wrote: post #431
lazide wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU also has very high taxes and very high energy costs.

The EU also has low taxes and low energy prices depending on which states you are talking about.

Which state has low taxes and low energy prices?

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

#436

Post by vel0city »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #385
zdragnar wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heat capacity doesn't mean much unless the walls are several feet thick. The frost line where I live is around 5 feet deep into the ground- meaning that footings for any building have to be that deep to avoid shifting as the ground freezes and thaws. Summer months thick stone walls can be nice if you are able to keep humidity out, but if you don't and your walls actually stay cool you're dealing with a lot of mold an…

"several feet thick." I don't know how thick a feet is, where we live we don't measure distances by the length of the feet of the king. But I have lived for 10 years in a house with 30 cm thick walls and it has a tremendously positive effect, when outsite it is 30C and inside the walls are still 20C into July. "mold and mildew" Didn't have that problem in 10 years. This more happens with modern insulation than thick…

Those walls would be nearly 30C in the inside already, if my house was built with them. The average temps for the past few weeks (low + high / 2) have been 30-32C. Its still somewhat early in the hot season here, so that will still go up.

There are months of the year where it doesn't get less than like 32C. save for rare cold snaps were it'll dip down to 26C or so for an evening or two.

My pool, which also has some decent thermal inertia, is already at 30C. The average temperature is still going up outside.

All of Europe is further north than most of the US. This does some big things for the climate.

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

#437

Post by icehawk »

vel0city wrote: post #436
KingOfCoders wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"several feet thick." I don't know how thick a feet is, where we live we don't measure distances by the length of the feet of the king. But I have lived for 10 years in a house with 30 cm thick walls and it has a tremendously positive effect, when outsite it is 30C and inside the walls are still 20C into July. "mold and mildew" Didn't have that problem in 10 years. This more happens with modern insulation than thick…

Those walls would be nearly 30C in the inside already , if my house was built with them. The average temps for the past few weeks (low + high / 2) have been 30-32C. Its still somewhat early in the hot season here, so that will still go up. There are months of the year where it doesn't get less than like 32C. save for rare cold snaps were it'll dip down to 26C or so for an evening or two. My pool, which also has some…

Yeah, and heat capacity is the last thing you want for an object in a hot environment where the sun shines on it.

I've seen shaded portions of my concrete slab at 36C at 1AM

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

#438

Post by galdosdi »

fnfjfk wrote: post #256
galdosdi wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

Were you here in 2012 for "SoPo"? https://ny.curbed.com/2017/10/29/16560706/hurricane-sandy-an...

Yeah. My job at the time was in the fidi and we had power trucks lining the streets for months. I saw the cars floating upside down with my own eyes. It was quite a time. Anyway:

That is not the comeback you think it is. New York was unprepared for that and intra not designed for saltwater flooding because nobody had ever expected that kind of weather to make it up here. It triggered a lot of changes now that New York knows it needs to be ready for serious hurricanes and saltwater flooding

Also I never heard the term SoPO before. We called it hurricane sandy.

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

#439

Post by [deleted] »

fnfjfk wrote: post #256
galdosdi wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

Were you here in 2012 for "SoPo"? https://ny.curbed.com/2017/10/29/16560706/hurricane-sandy-an...

[deleted]

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

#440

Post by toomuchtodo »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #346
toomuchtodo wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I am also familiar with the technical challenges and cost of improving last mile electrical distribution to withstand hurricane force conditions where burial is not an option (whether because of a high water table or potential surge conditions, where equipment is suspended at a height above ground level on permanent scaffolding or pedestals). It is expensive, not impossible. It is a choice, and there is a cost.…

Citations: https://www.marketplace.org/2024/07/12/texas-power-grid-hous... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036054422... https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/ar... https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1558514 https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/060624_GD... https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/why-cant-texas-bu...

Additional citation:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-15/climate-c... | https://archive.today/m8xjc

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