{"id":277660,"date":"2023-09-07T11:05:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T09:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=277660"},"modified":"2023-09-07T11:05:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T09:05:08","slug":"wounded-texas-from-wind-and-solar-backdoor-recognition-at-the-houston-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=277660","title":{"rendered":"Wounded Texas from Wind and Solar (backdoor recognition at the Houston Chronicle)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIf you had to take a life-saving medication that had to be refrigerated, would you want the energy source to be reliable fossil fuels or literally leave it to the wind and the sun?\u201d \u2013 LTE, below<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t expect the Houston Chronicle<\/em> editorial team<\/a>, much less the conflicted<\/a>, climate-religionist<\/a> business editorialist Chris Tomlinson, to forthrightly explain how a once reliable grid in the Lone Start State became wounded. They will blame it on the weather (too cold, too hot). But the real story is wind and solar reliance at the expense of thermal generation, as well as central planning of the wholesale grid by regulators\/politicians (ERCOT\/PUCT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have long complained about how Houston\u2019s newspaper of record went from biased to uber-biased on many things political, particularly climate change\/forced energy transformation. No doubt some \u201cenvironmental education\u201d money has been involved in this hometown hate against oil and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I personally have stopped trying to publish op-ed\u2019s in my longtime hometown paper (I live in central Texas now) and spend time calling out Tomlinson, the worst of the worst. (In the old days<\/a>, my op-ed\u2019s were published.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chronicle<\/em> likes to publish op-ed\u2019s from industry trade groups (the authors are transparently biased, right)? But the ideological opponents of climate activism (Big Brother energy policy) are marginalized. As Tomlinson himself describes<\/a> the likes of Alex Epstein and Robert Bryce: \u201cThe industry\u2019s most talented propagandists will offer advice on burnishing petroleum\u2019s image as resentment toward fossil fuels grows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost all of my letters-to-the-editor<\/a> do not get in. But as the Texas grid problems are in the daily news, it is hard not to note the primacy of intermittency<\/em>. Tomlinson\u2019s fallacious<\/a> take is that old thermal generation is failing, and \u201cnew technology\u201d is here. But the problem goes back to public policy, specifically wind and solar forcing on a once reliable grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A letter in last week in the\u00a0Houston Chronicle<\/em>\u00a0focused on just this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Regarding \u201cERCOT issues conservation request amid high outages of natural gas, coal plants,\u201d (Aug. 30): The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas has issued another conservation notice. How did we end up in this situation? In 1999, Gov. George W. Bush signed legislation to mandate the state\u2019s electricity retailers to purchase a certain amount of their energy from qualifying renewable sources. In 2005, Gov. Rick Perry further increased the amount of energy derived from renewable energy. Renewable energy is currently responsible for 28% of ERCOT\u2019s fuel source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observed ERCOT data from Thursday, Aug. 24 (when ERCOT issued a conservation notice) at 5:30 p.m. shows solar energy generated less than 1% of its total capacity and wind energy generated less than 17% of its total capacity. Compare this abysmal performance with natural gas, coal and nuclear energy, which generated between 70 and 90% of its total capacity. It should be pointed out that nuclear energy was the highest of the group (and also is carbon free). If the energy generated from renewables was instead generated from natural gas, coal and nuclear, I believe that it would greatly reduce the need for ERCOT conservation notices. Remember there are only so many hours of sunlight in a day, and the wind, unfortunately, doesn\u2019t always blow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had to take a life-saving medication that had to be refrigerated, would you want the energy source to be reliable fossil fuels or literally leave it to the wind and the sun? Reducing our dependence on renewable energy and adding additional capacity from nuclear, coal and natural gas sources will allow Texans to have reliable energy and not worry about literally being in the dark. \u2013 Peter Parlapiano, Houston<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t expect the\u00a0Houston Chronicle\u00a0editorial team, much less the\u00a0conflicted,\u00a0climate-religionist\u00a0business editorialist Chris Tomlinson, to forthrightly explain how a once reliable grid in the Lone Start State became wounded. They will blame it on the weather (too cold, too hot). But the real story is wind and solar reliance at the expense of thermal generation, as well as central planning of the wholesale grid by regulators\/politicians (ERCOT\/PUCT).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":277663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822381,691820976,691822380,691822382,691818577,691819121],"class_list":{"0":"post-277660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-chris-tomlinson","9":"tag-electric-reliability-council-of-texas-ercot","10":"tag-houston-chronicle","11":"tag-limate-religionist","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-wind-and-solar-power","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0texas-wind-solar-coal1.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1aeo","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":242676,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=242676","url_meta":{"origin":277660,"position":0},"title":"Houston Chronicle: Unpublished \u2018Letters to the Editor\u2019 (cancelling me)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe\u00a0Houston Chronicle\u00a0editorialists can cancel me, but they cannot cancel energy density and the perils of dilute, intermittent substitutes for real, stock energies. Reality bats last, and climate alarm and the \u2018energy transition\u2019 are doing very poorly outside of getting government favor to keep the mirage going. It is sad that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-24.png?fit=1000%2C657&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-24.png?fit=1000%2C657&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-24.png?fit=1000%2C657&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-24.png?fit=1000%2C657&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":259061,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=259061","url_meta":{"origin":277660,"position":1},"title":"Tomlinson on Texas Electricity: Houston Chronicle Editorialist in the Wrong Paradigm","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"He wants 1) more wind and solar; 2) enormous grid batteries, as if they were off-the-shelf and cheap; and 3) Big Brother demand-management in the home and business.","rel":"","context":"In \"Big Brother\"","block_context":{"text":"Big Brother","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=big-brother"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00Screen-Shot-2020-05-28-at-7.50.56-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C721&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00Screen-Shot-2020-05-28-at-7.50.56-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C721&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00Screen-Shot-2020-05-28-at-7.50.56-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C721&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00Screen-Shot-2020-05-28-at-7.50.56-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C721&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00Screen-Shot-2020-05-28-at-7.50.56-PM.jpg?fit=1200%2C721&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":303990,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303990","url_meta":{"origin":277660,"position":2},"title":"Tomlinson on the Texas Grid Three Years Ago (prediction fail!)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/02\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"With the 3rd anniversary of the Great Texas Blackout (February 2021) this week, it is worth revisiting an (egregious?)\u00a0forecasting error\u00a0of\u00a0Houston Chronicle\u00a0business editorialist Chris Tomlinson.","rel":"","context":"In \"ERCOT\"","block_context":{"text":"ERCOT","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ercot"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/01200x0.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/01200x0.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/01200x0.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/01200x0.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/01200x0.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":245773,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245773","url_meta":{"origin":277660,"position":3},"title":"Chris Tomlinson (Houston Chronicle) in the Church of Climate","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Houston Chronicle business columnist Chris Tomlinson said many of the obstacles to combatting climate change, especially in Texas, boil down to economics.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-856.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-856.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-856.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-856.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-856.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":423594,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423594","url_meta":{"origin":277660,"position":4},"title":"Storm Ferm: Remember Uri (centrally planned electricity \u2018transition\u2019 in Texas)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"28\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The current cold snap (\u201cwhere is global warming when you need it?\u201d) makes timely a review of the Texas electricity debacle of February 2021. This post by Robert Bradley, \u201cWind, Solar, and the Great Texas Blackout: Guilty as Charged,\u201d was originally published by the Institute for Energy Research. As of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"\u201cmagical thinking\u201d policymakers\"","block_context":{"text":"\u201cmagical thinking\u201d policymakers","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=magical-thinking-policymakers"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQMu-HDswPqIyehP8-4RzGuMHDhmGzIzkpUyFZjZRq3-DWOaMOGQkhsk8K_KbcJbjbI1ao49pVTdMG_5-kuwpPz1MJVAWvgYb7ls-pVrd0cM3bs2ppNwM5vmuKeCXRey.jpeg?fit=1200%2C707&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":197756,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=197756","url_meta":{"origin":277660,"position":5},"title":"Tomlinson\u2019s Beef against Beef (Houston Chronicle editorialist says we\u2019re irrational)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"29\/04\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Robert Bradley Jr. \u201cNo wonder so many Texans refuse to acknowledge climate change; the planet\u2019s fate relies on transforming not only our economy but our culture.\u201d\u201cIt\u2019s not much of an exaggeration to say that climate change might come to a screeching halt if all humans switched to electric transportation\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/0standing-beef-rib-roast-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/0standing-beef-rib-roast-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/0standing-beef-rib-roast-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/0standing-beef-rib-roast-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/0standing-beef-rib-roast-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=277660"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277668,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277660\/revisions\/277668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/277663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=277660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=277660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=277660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}