IT ACCURES TO ME IF THE USA HAD NOT FORCED ABOUT HALF OF MEXICO’S POOR CLASS ON THE OCCUPIED REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, TEXICANS WOULD NOT HAVE TO BE WORRYING ABOUT FREZZING TO DEATH.

JUST A THOUGHT?

The Ole Dog!

“Energy Emergency” – Texas Power Provider Warns Of Rotating Outages As Cold Weather Tests Limits Of Grid

With the situation in Texas doing from bad to worse:

Weather forecast models suggest the polar vortex will continue pouring Arctic air into much of the central US through Feb. 20. This means nat gas prices could rise even higher early next week as electricity demand continues to soar over the weekend as Americans crank up their thermostats and watch Netflix shows or mine Bitcoin.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is asking consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity use as much as possible Sunday, Feb. 14 through Tuesday, Feb. 16.

“We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.

“At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units. We are asking Texans to take some simple, safe steps to lower their energy use during this time.”

Here are some tips to reduce electricity use:

Turn down thermostats to 68-degrees.

Close shades and blinds to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.

Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances.

Avoid using large appliances (i.e., ovens, washing machines, etc.).

Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.

Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes.

Given the prolonged, below-freezing temperatures, conservation measures should be implemented safely and within reason.

ERCOT has the tools and procedures in place to maintain a reliable electric system during tight grid conditions. If power reserves drop too low, ERCOT may need to declare an Energy Emergency Alert, or EEA. Declaring an EEA allows the grid operator to take advantage of additional resources that are only available during scarcity conditions.

There are three levels of EEA, and rotating outages are only implemented as a last resort to maintain reliability of the electric system.

As one Houston energy trader so eloquently explained, Texas electricity customers are about to get “lubelessly pounded” as prices explode:

Scary as shit surge…

MORE:

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/energy-emergency-texas-power-provider-warns-rotating-outages-cold-weather-tests-limits-grid

Deforestation actually COOLS parts of the US, says bombshell new report from NASA

Startling new NASA-funded research indicates that, contrary to popular wisdom, deforestation in the US does not always cause planetary warming and may, in fact, cool the climate, depending on the area involved.

The bombshell research was led by Christopher A. Williams, an environmental scientist and professor in Clark University’s Graduate School of Geography.

The peer-reviewed study will likely have far-reaching implications for policy and land management efforts across the US and beyond.

Using state-of-the-art satellite remote sensing, as opposed to computer models as was the case in many previous studies, Williams and his team examined what uses various deforested areas were repurposed for (urban, agricultural, grassland etc.) and quantified how much biomass carbon was released into the atmosphere as a result.

They then calculated how much additional sunlight would be reflected back out into space as a result, depending on the particular change in landscape.

The research indicates that the solution to planetary warming caused by climate change may not be as straightforward as just planting more trees.

Forests absorb carbon dioxide, store it in wood and soil and alleviate the greenhouse gas burden on the atmosphere.

However, forests also tend to be quite dark, and absorb and retain more sunlight, and by extension heat, in a process called the “albedo effect”.

“We found that in some parts of the country like the Intermountain West, more forest actually leads to a hotter planet when we consider the full climate impacts from both carbon and albedo effects,” said Professor Williams.

Striking a balance between this effect and forests’ carbon capture and storage capabilities is important to forming coherent and effective public environmental policy in the US and beyond.

For one quarter of the US, forest loss contributed to a net cooling effect, as the previous tree density created an albedo effect which outweighed the trees’ carbon absorption.

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