What? The renewable energy systems on the Texas grid caused the power failure?
As an energy and climate scientist for many years, I smelled something fishy.
Renewable energy systems work well in environmental conditions much more extreme than Texas suffered.
Ah, understood.
The governor and Fox News jumped on some frozen wind turbines to indict the green new deal and to deflect blame from the other 87 percent of the Texas grid that failed – the coal, the gas and, yes, even a nuclear plant.
The blame goes even deeper: lack of investment in reliability and peak power requirements; lack of maintenance requirements; the operation of an isolated and non-regulated grid system run for years on the cheap in order to maximize profits for the utilities; and the utter failure of corrupt politicians to fix a system that they knew would fail.
Texas deserves better, and they will get it when their citizens demand it.
However, the event has a more powerful significance that should be understood by everyone:
As our climate system breaks down, we can expect more extreme and unprecedented weather events more often. These include regional ice storms, more and larger hurricanes and tornadoes, extreme rainfall events, greater risk of forest fires, extreme snow events, more heat waves and drought, coastal and river flooding, and more, even here in the Hudson Valley.
Having failed to address the climate issue for the past 40 years, we have reached what can only be called a climate crisis where dozens and soon hundreds of extreme weather events each year will put human civilization at risk.
We can still limit the damage if we act together and we act quickly. It’s our choice.
William Makofske
Warwick