Re: (ReacTor) Five SFF Books Featuring Frigid, Icy Worlds

On 7/22/2024 7:05 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:

On 7/19/2024 11:38 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:

On 7/18/2024 7:49 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

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We (ERCOT) were pulling 600 MW off the eastern grid today after the
solar power plants stopped making power between 6pm and 8pm.

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In california, we export (and store in batteries) energy during the
day, then draw down the batteries (and import a bit) during the evening
hours.  During the day, about half of our electricity comes from solar.
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It's been great - during the 9 day heat wave (100teens every day
in much of the state) last week, we still had
a surplus generation capacity of about 11Gw every day.  Much
of what we import at night comes from northwest hydro.
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As I type this, the state demand is 32,007 mw, solar provides
18,309 mw, CH4 provides 8,024mw, and 4,851 mw is being used to
charge batteries for this evening and we're importing 2028 mw.
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Current capacity is 55,514mw and today's forecast peak is 41,467mw.
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Valley temperatures will be in the 100's today from the grapevine
to Mt. Shasta.

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Texas is about 3X all of that.  Peak load is over 100,000 MW when you
count the refineries and chemical plants who make their own power and
sell the excess to the grid (ERCOT).  ERCOT current capacity is over
150,000 MW and will be over 160,000 MW by the end of this year.
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And Texas has 7,849 MW of batteries and will be 10,000 MW by the end of
the year.  People are buying cheap wind turbine power from midnight to 6
am and reselling it to the grid at 6pm when the solar fails and people
are getting home from work.

 California's population is 130% of Texas, so the usage per-capita
is significantly less than Texas (like 70% less).  In part due to the last two decades
of state support for energy efficient lighting, heating, stringent
building codes emphasizing energy efficiency and computer data
centers (e.g. EnergyStar).

Texas is far more industrialized than California.  About a 1/4 (maybe 1/3rd now with eight more refineries closing in the last couple of years) of gasoline and diesel in the USA are made in Texas.  Half of the LNG for resale outside of the USA is made in Texas.  Half of the plastic pellets in the world are made in Texas.  Much wallboard, wood, etc is made here.  All of the industry uses quite a bit of electric power.
And then there is the very warm climate compared to California's moderate climate for most of its citizens who live along the coast.  Air conditioning and heating (yes, Texas has much electric winter heating) are very prevalent here.  I have seen it 113 F (1999) and 6 F (1983) here on the Gulf Coast.  North and Central Texas have much more extremes.
And much of California's industry is moving to Texas due to the business friendly governments and cheaper utility costs.  Tesla and X just announced their plans to move but hundreds have already left.
Like other landlords, I have changed out the incandescent and metal halide lighting for LED lighting now in my commercial buildings.  It just makes too much sense to reduce the electric and heat load on the buildings.  Changing those 1,000 watt metal halide fixtures for 200 watt LED fixtures was a pain but my tenants really enjoy the lower electric bills and the instant on lights, the ten minute wait was dangerous.
Lynn