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Elon in Texas [speculation - is tesla helping in texas?]
- Thread starter LoudMusic
- Start date
He was trying to fix Puerto Rico's electric infrastructure. He could add it to the list of things to fix:
Elon Musk is working to solve the ventilator shortage caused by the coronavirus — here are all the other humanitarian crises he's tried to fix, and how it's going so far
Elon Musk is working to solve the ventilator shortage caused by the coronavirus — here are all the other humanitarian crises he's tried to fix, and how it's going so far
Being an elected official and bailing on those who elected you is completely unacceptable.
but for people like Elon?? He’s got bigger and better things to do with his time than “tough it out” ... image be damned, his legacy will speak for itself
but for people like Elon?? He’s got bigger and better things to do with his time than “tough it out” ... image be damned, his legacy will speak for itself
Elon is known for trying to "set an example", like all the PR he got from "sleeping on the couch at the factory" during crunch time.
It actually wouldn't surprise me if he stuck around, but hopefully he has lots of solar and powerwalls to show that Tesla tech can get you through these hard times.
It actually wouldn't surprise me if he stuck around, but hopefully he has lots of solar and powerwalls to show that Tesla tech can get you through these hard times.
(moderator note: this thread is now not about tesla energy topics at all. If the desire is to keep discussing it here in this section, vs it being moved to another section, I would suggest the discussion be re directed to an energy product slant, and away from what the state of texas itself does or does not do regarding energy plans / processes /elected officials etc.)
I agree that this is not about Tesla Energy. But the thread is valid and should be just moved somewhere else.
And while I understand the reasons for avoiding the specifics of Texas, I respectfully suggest this is a problem of the state's own making and should focus on the policies that made this cold weather such a problem. This week the few parts of Texas not under ERCOT did NOT have outages because they get electricity from other large-scale grid systems. For example, El Paso, in the far West of the state has NOT had severe power outages. Similarly, non-ERCOT areas in the eastern part of the state near Houston have not suffered outages. So, if nothing else, we should keep a thread where we can discuss the effect poor power policy decisions have on all of us.
This is my effort to try to somewhat put that toothpaste back in the tube regarding this thread. I try to not be too heavy handed (especially in this section), but we are not going to discuss politics in this section unless its to talk about how policies themselves might impact energy products.
(moderator note)
Political discussions in general are frowned on, on TMC. The moderators have a whole quarantine thread we move posts with political slant to (a locked thread we quarantine political posts to).
Other than the bit of political mud slinging that is starting to happen in this thread, the rest of the discussion is valid, but doesnt belong in this section. I thought this would turn out like this when I saw the OPs first post, actually... but as I said I try not to be too heavy handed, if possible (which Is why I havent quarantined some posts in this thread already).
I am trying to give people the option of turning this back toward energy products as it relates to this situation, or, deciding they want to continue the other part of this discussion that is happening, and if so then I will have to quarantine some posts in this thread, and move the thread to another section (probably the energy section, after moving some posts to quarantine).
In this section we tend to have fairly measured discussions, so I definitely let more pass here (which again is why I havent quarantined posts already, just warned the thread basically)
For the forums I moderate, as soon as a political post gets posted, I delete. Otherwise the group goes into the mud
Tam
Well-Known Member
True. Off the grid from the rest of the nation is an issue but Tesla can help Texas to do that with its smart microgrids as well.
Tam
Well-Known Member
Apparently SpaceX provided a generator to the Sea Turtles, Inc. organization to save the thousands of sea turtles, who were suffering from being cold-stunned and would die if not warmed up, that volunteers were bringing in to the organization. Rescue operation reminded me of those on the Big Island in 2018 that tried to rescue sea turtles there that were faced with a different dilemma — killed by super-heated water from Kilauea lava flowing into the ocean at Kapoho Bay.
Thousands of 'Cold-Stunned' Turtles Rescued from Freezing Texas Waters as State Battles Winter Storm
Thousands of 'Cold-Stunned' Turtles Rescued from Freezing Texas Waters as State Battles Winter Storm
Even if Tesla were to make a ginormous battery backup for whole cities in Texas, where does the power come from in harsh winter times like this? Solar and Wind are not at their best right now. Maybe someday Tesla can branch into other forms of power generation that are better for cloudy winter days? What would be a good source? Is there untapped hydroelectric and/or geothermal opportunity? Maybe Tesla could invent some new kind of power generation?
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Solar has been producing as members from Texas have posted. Wind is there, and does work fine in this kind of weather if you invest in anti-icing technology. They have plenty of wind turbines in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The failure here is gas and coal generation because of failure to invest in winterized designs.
Tam
Well-Known Member
The 36-hour graph still shows solar (blue line) still works starting around 8AM on 2/15 and again, next morning on 2/16.
The straight horizontal black line is what ERCOT expects total Wind and Solar (yellow line) can provide and the yellow line does do that most of the time except for 5 hours from 19:00 to 24:00 (7PM to 12AM). Batteries could have taken over in this case for those 5 hours.
Wind - ERCOT finds that frozen wind turbines were the least significant factor in Texas blackouts - Renewable Energy Magazine, at the heart of clean energy journalism
Wind could have performed better if they were equipped with heated blades.
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