Deep freeze sends Texas electrical energy costs hovering 10,000%

By Admin On Feb 17, 2021

Tonight: A deep freeze sends Texas electrical energy costs hovering 10,000%; Citibank cannot repair a $500 million oopsie; and vegan KitKats are actually a factor. Let’s get into it.

Electrical energy costs spiked greater than 10,000% when the winter storm hit this week. There are blackouts throughout the state. Greater than four million Texans have been with out energy early Tuesday.

POINTING FINGERS

Though some try to pin the blame on one gasoline supply or one other, the truth is that the Arctic temperatures are hobbling fossil fuels and renewable power alike, my colleague Matt Egan explains.

It is hanging that these energy outages are occurring in mighty Texas, the power powerhouse of America. A little bit of context:

Texas produces extra electrical energy than every other US state — producing nearly twice as a lot as Florida, the next-closest, in response to federal statistics.

Texas is the No. 1 state in each crude oil and pure fuel.

Wind energy can also be booming in Texas, which produced about 28% of all of the US wind-powered electrical energy in 2019.

WHAT HAPPENED?

So how did such a powerhouse get knocked so totally offline?

We might not know the total definitive cause for some time, however just a few issues are clear:

Clearly, Texas winters ain’t normally this chilly. The state’s infrastructure is just not ready for a deep freeze.

Critics of renewables will attempt to blame wind generators, however specialists observe that wind makes up a small share of Texas’ power consumption.

It is also price poinitng out that loads of chillier locations have wind generators that do not buckle within the chilly — whats up, Iowa; hej hej, Denmark — they only must be winterized, a step specialists mentioned Texas has skipped.

The Lone Star State is … on their lonesome. Texas made a acutely aware determination to isolate its power grid from the remainder of the nation. That implies that when issues are operating easily, it might probably’t export extra energy to neighboring states. And within the present disaster, it might probably’t import energy both.

In different phrases: “In relation to electrical energy, what occurs in Texas stays in Texas,” mentioned Dan Cohan, affiliate professor of environmental engineering at Rice College. “That has actually come again to chew us.” 

RELATED: Ford is shutting its Kansas Metropolis meeting plant, which makes its best-selling F-150 pickup, due to a scarcity of pure fuel attributable to extreme winter climate hitting a lot of the nation .

QUOTE OF THE DAY

To imagine that Citibank, some of the refined monetary establishments on this planet, had made a mistake that had by no means occurred earlier than, to the tune of almost $1 billion — would have been borderline irrational.

— US District Courtroom Decide Jesse Furman

Citi simply misplaced a bid to repair a significant oopsie. Final 12 months, the financial institution fat-fingered $900 million to lenders for cosmetics firm Revlon. Some lenders returned the misguided funds, however others refused, prompting Citi to sue to recuperate half a billion {dollars}. On Tuesday, a federal decide mentioned — and I am paraphrasing right here — lol no.

THE FOOD BUSINESS

BIG CHICKEN

One other day, one other escalation of the Rooster Sandwich Wars. At this level, you gotta do one thing particular to make your sandwich stand out, so McDonald’s is constructing buzz for its three new chickie sammies with a restricted version $5 swag bundle, which incorporates a hoodie, a vinyl recording of a customized tune and, after all, a sandwich. (The star has received to be the hoodie, which is available in a hue that I can finest describe as a “mild fried rooster colour.”)

BIG VEGAN

Now for principally the other of rooster sandwiches: Now we have vegan KitKats now. As an alternative of dairy, KitKat V will use a rice-based various. More healthy? Nah. However extra inclusive of people that eat plant-based diets? Sure!

NUMBER OF THE DAY

$50,000

Bitcoin hit an all-time excessive above $50,000 on Tuesday. That assertion may need seemed like a joke a 12 months in the past, when the crypto price $10,000. However bitcoin has skyrocketed throughout the pandemic due to rock-bottom rates of interest which have severely weakened the US greenback. That makes bitcoin, a comparatively engaging foreign money.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

Transfer over, Robinhood, right here comes Goldman Sachs. The funding financial institution unveiled Marcus Make investments, a brand new robo-adviser geared towards the common investor.

Auf wiedersehen: Adidas is promoting struggling US health model Reebok as a part of a strategic overhaul.

Marriott Worldwide’s president and CEO Arne Sorenson died Monday following a virtually two-year battle with pancreatic most cancers, the resort chain introduced Tuesday.

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