Texas's power disaster is a warning sign for the US

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America's power grid is not ready.
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In February, extreme cold and an unusual winter storm left millions of Texans in the dark. Many went without power or water, in subzero temperatures, for nearly five days. It was a disaster; dozens died. But even though that storm hit much of the country, the power outages were mostly limited to Texas. That’s because Texas is on its own electrical grid, separate from the rest of the country, which means it can’t easily get power from other states in an emergency.
But Texas's grid itself is not what failed. Power went out across Texas in the first place because energy sources across the state were unprepared for severe weather. And that didn’t have to happen; Texas had been warned about this exact scenario, and had actually experienced versions of it twice in the last 30 years. But they didn’t prepare.
Now the rest of the US faces the same issue. Climate change is making severe weather disasters more and more frequent. And the American energy system is not ready for it.
Read more about what happened in Texas and about the US electrical grid: www.vox.com/22289517/texas-storm-uri-weather-power-outage-snow
And check out more coverage of the Texas power crisis from the Texas Tribune: www.texastribune.org/2021/02/22/texas-power-grid-extreme-weather/
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com.
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Vox
Oy oldin
One proposal for fixing the US grid: weave the divided power systems into a single national power grid. One study suggests it could save consumers as much as $47.2 billion a year through increased efficiency and cheaper renewable energy. Read more on Vox: bit.ly/30duu7d
John Peltz
Kun oldin
Larger grids are more susceptible to emp threats
R Flo
15 kun oldin
Yeah and in California they shut off your power in the summer on purpose.
RockDinosaur
28 kun oldin
@Soaring Wings Second Stage The storm and failures to plan were an attempt to prevent an illegal and traitorous secession effort? Sure, makes sense - Texas is great.
Sam Dittfach
28 kun oldin
I live 2 miles from a nuclear power plant south of Fort Worth so I had power
tixximmi1
Oy oldin
This wouldn't work. Need to de-centralize. 100 grids would be better. Solar and wind failed.
luis duron
Kun oldin
it your turn
warhero99
Kun oldin
The Night King is Coming!
Eric H
Kun oldin
Except that the rest of the US has rules and laws with backup generation and weatherizing. Now is it ready, probably not, but it is far better equipped than Texas.
Joseph P
3 kun oldin
Texas will be blue by the end of the decade, it’s gonna be interesting to see how much the state changes from current Republican policies
Smart
3 kun oldin
Investing in crypto is the best lucrative way of making money now
Jamey Andrews
2 kun oldin
@Alex Thanks for he's contact info I'll get to him right away
Alex
2 kun oldin
through whatsap⬇
Alex
2 kun oldin
@Jamey Andrews +1,,4,,4,,3,4,,8,,4,,8,,4,,8,,2
Jamey Andrews
2 kun oldin
How do I contact mr Kelvin Williams?
Julie Paul
2 kun oldin
He,s stories are everywhere 😱 Trading crypto with mr Kelvin Williams has being a game changer for me
Earl Dominguez
5 kun oldin
WE DIN HAV NO PAWOR FOR 6 DAYS
Belal Fayad
5 kun oldin
I find it funny that they were saying dangerously low temperatures and it was only -16 Celsius here in alberts it was -50 Celsius lol
DarthDragon007
5 kun oldin
The gov shouldn't allow safety and preparation precautions to be volentary because it should be extremely obvious companies will not inforce them if they have to spend money to do so because making money is more important to them then the people's safety. It should always be mandatory and strictly enforced.
JP Moore
5 kun oldin
No mention of where all the money goes? It’s corruption at the highest level! But apparently not enough to dive into?
Blywokeum
6 kun oldin
MIC
Jackson Flowers
6 kun oldin
Texas: freaks out over 2 inches of snow. Wisconsin: ah, we got 10 inches, big deal
John Naylor
7 kun oldin
The US grid certainly needs attention .... but the situation in Texas was and is driven by greed and politics. The management of ERCOT is as corrupt and dishonest as Ted Cruz and his bunch. They were directly responsible for the problems during the freeze and the 2nd power crisis this week.
Some Toad
8 kun oldin
I remember that time My family lost electricity for 2 days Some people didn’t even receive water
Hatuletoh
8 kun oldin
Wait, this can't be right. As everyone knows, private industry ALWAYS does everything better than the government, and they do it best of all when the government doesn't impede them with wasteful "regulations" and "standards." Thus sayeth St. Ronald of Reagan, the patron saint of deregulation, anti-communism, voodoo economics, deficit spending, imaginary space lasers, and American mornings. So clearly the reason Texas had no power and some people froze to death wasn't because private industry failed, it must have been due to some sort of governmental interference. Maybe the Texas legislators should have made those voluntary industry preparedness standards, um...more voluntary? In any case, the situation is just more evidence that profit-driven organizations are the best purveyors of basic services and the fundamental resources needed to survive, and if their customers aren't satisfied, they can fire their electric company and take their business elsewhere (if they actually have the option to change utility providers, and if they don't freeze to death during the blackouts, of course). Beer, steers, and blackouts!
Edgewater Channel
8 kun oldin
The Movie '2012' happened in Texas.
kusinerna fryklund
8 kun oldin
America isn't as great anymore. In the 50 and the 70 we built so much things that made us superior. Now these things are getting old.
21 Manpreet Singh
9 kun oldin
In short Communism can sometimes be good
Jaymir Bergrok
9 kun oldin
merica be like:OH NO anyway
Sterling Archer
10 kun oldin
This video doesn't mention the power companies that monopolize the electricity in certain counties.
Lightning Razz Gaming
11 kun oldin
I am watching this video with my tablet right now and I charged my tablet yesterday.
LETICIA BRISENO
13 kun oldin
I life in Texas
BINARYGOD
14 kun oldin
Send this to every right and centrist person who thinks Bidens infrastructure bill is too much or just right - it isn't even close to being enough.
Agent Pelly 1
14 kun oldin
I was in Texas during the winter storm I nearly lost power for 5 days it was like bad so I went to my aunt home because she had power so yea it was bad for me winter storm
Spectacular Spaghetti
15 kun oldin
As a Scandinavian, it blows my mind how a state in the US cant handle cold weathers, as this country is so powerful and stuff. Even the best can make big mistakes.
TW Ray
10 kun oldin
Depends on where you are. Where I am in Illinois, we can. Here in central Illinois, we can get down to 0 F, which would be -17 C. We don't like it, but we can deal with it relatively easily. But in Texas where the worse outages were, they don't get below freezing at all nine years out of 10. It isn't routine for them. And without federal regulations to force them, the private companies had nothing to push them to prep for something that might happen in 10 years.
pomelofromchina
17 kun oldin
Schlüsselindustrien enteignen!
aiden caldwell
17 kun oldin
Good thing we had the better idea because we had food and water
Coldfusionstorm Gaming
18 kun oldin
Texans was killed by Texans because they wanted to save money for their power grid and enrich the already rich. Don't whitewash it. You had 50 years of warnings. again and again now people died. if you're reading this congratulations you were either lucky or rich enough to avoid dying.
john piers
18 kun oldin
But when you think about it Texas maybe the safest state in terms of energy. It may suffer occasionally like this but if something was to hit those huge power grids in the east and west, it possible all major cities would be affected except in Texas.
Nick L
18 kun oldin
Business needs to stop putting profit over life. Never forget how valuable YOU are. If you do something right from the start there wouldn’t be problems.
Pyro
19 kun oldin
In the map they show in the beginning, New York and New Jersey are merged
Adam Place
20 kun oldin
The experiment in privatization has failed.
Pebbs800
21 kun oldin
interesting how vox decided to not include that texas submitted a request to the EPA to increase power output for this storm before the fact but it was denied by the federal government
koen Armstrong
22 kun oldin
Wow it looks like the climate is changing🧐 It’s not gonna matter when half the world is under water and everybody has to find a new place to live or worse. Hopefully not
Hab N
22 kun oldin
there has been a literal power outage in California and I am scared.
DarkChocolate33
22 kun oldin
Am I the only one that noticed that Vox spelled the video wrong? Feel like it should be Texas' instead of Texas's.
Jeremiah Muñoz
23 kun oldin
Texas: *Im so not used to this i think i need more Help, we arent used to Winter* Russia, Canada, and Nordic countries: *AMATUERS*
Nick L
23 kun oldin
The evil people left there most helpful state astray. They do not gaf about us.
Devilsfoolsgoingbbq
23 kun oldin
i feel like the planned parenthood building is atracting catastrophes upon texas, dont see a bright future to the land.
Its Legit Ryan
23 kun oldin
And yall want electric cars💀
Crystal Glaza
23 kun oldin
Let's start our own country and have no problems at all 🙂
G L
24 kun oldin
But how are we going to pay for it if we need the money to bomb Syria.
legenden kjær YT
24 kun oldin
Texas: makes it impossible for the federal government to help Them Also Texas when the federal government doesnt help Them: suprised Pikachu face
DCBJ2011
24 kun oldin
I’m from Dallas and this winter storm was 100x worse than covid ever was here
Eko Hermiyanto
24 kun oldin
The Mighty Morphin Texas Ranger should do something about it
Glendon Caballero
25 kun oldin
As someone who lives in the Caribbean, it's so interesting that you guys called 5 C warm 😂
Jan Six
25 kun oldin
Preparing for unpredictable and infrequent events? What do you wanna be Germans now!
A_
25 kun oldin
The U.S Government is not obligated to save you. Become a Prepper Today!
Mix Crowd TV
25 kun oldin
can you make a documentary about whats being done to fix this or is nothing being done?
The Dwight Mamba
25 kun oldin
The rest of the United States maintained our grids, updating them as needed. They say not to mess with Texas. Turns out it's because they are about as tough as tissue paper down there.
Mark Alcarez
23 kun oldin
😂
traingp7
25 kun oldin
A once in a 30 year event happens and you blame the power grid for something that doesn't happen almost ever. The grid is built for peak summer time output not winter time and it 's not supposed to be winterized.
Alex Martinez
25 kun oldin
This was very interesting. The winter storm that affected Texas has affected the automotive industry as well. Since the factories can't run as normal, parts necessary to assemble vehicles can't be delivered. As a result the other companies have to reduce their production &/or workforce. It is basically a ripple effect.
Mr Moss
26 kun oldin
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nathan baines
26 kun oldin
O
Alia Schnarr
26 kun oldin
The glossy married morphologically educate because octave wessely describe aboard a overrated jeff. rich, flaky ant
A B
27 kun oldin
The lone wolf dies and only the pack survives.
Pacific Blue
27 kun oldin
So where the government is going to get this money to rebuild our power grid and infrastructure? Our debt now exceeds GDP. This shows how inept the government is in meeting the needs of the people. When the grid is eventually rebuilt, expect a lot of excess, inefficiencies, politicing, and corruption.
Donnie Baker
27 kun oldin
The light swordfish seemingly post because belgian generically owe qua a historical expansion. angry, hilarious gym
Master King Lee
27 kun oldin
When you wanna be in your own world, and suddenly your world is hit with a disaster - it’s your own problem son!
Cant think Of anything
23 kun oldin
so why do we accept refugees? its not our problem like how you said. California tried to secede but they have tons of wildfires monthly. According to you its not our problem.
MuffinTessee
27 kun oldin
Republicans: dur dur dur it really cold for 7 days in texas so climate change a hoax, also it wind mill fault cause mill blow up when get cold
AntiSocial
27 kun oldin
They are not used to the cold
eioshen boboi
28 kun oldin
The managers of the electric companies have all kinds of emergency equipment installed with their huge salaries. For them.. Not for you, suckers..
eioshen boboi
28 kun oldin
As a Canadian, when I first saw Texas I was like "Oh! How pretty!"
Trey Morr
28 kun oldin
based
White Elephant Productions
28 kun oldin
I didn't have power for three days, it was so shocking (but not surprising) to learn how much of Texas is behind just to make money for already wealthy people. I lost all my plants, my beloved dog... It was so depressing. I'm from a place where summers hit triple digits normally, I know
Ace Faletti
28 kun oldin
The vigorous active accordingly scribble because israel intermittently grate with a statuesque knowledge. adorable, puzzled wallet
lenny koss
28 kun oldin
❤❤
Joel Arriaga
29 kun oldin
Texas should just be it’s own country at this point 😒
Razian Amira
29 kun oldin
_“Corona doesn't break the system; Corona exposed a broken system.”_ likewise... _“The snowstorm doesn't break the system; the snowstorm exposed a broken system.”_
Orange Boi
21 kun oldin
What does likewise mean? I know i can ask google but her answers are different
M R
29 kun oldin
Every time Biden picks up a pen he destroys more of the U.S haha. You get what you vote for
Andrew Kriz
29 kun oldin
I lost power because I am in Texas
Tyler Peters
29 kun oldin
Ha we Canadians run better in the cold
Jason Victoriano
29 kun oldin
To tell me why I don’t live in Texas but still lost power
Daquan McDonald
29 kun oldin
If the us was smart they would start finding ways to keep up after this big lose
Steven Klinkhamer
29 kun oldin
Excellent. But is anybody listening?
Victor Bui
29 kun oldin
PRO TIP for future blizzards and freezes: Before the cold hits, shut off your home's water system. Map out your house's water pipelines and make sure you leave at least one or two water faucets trickling. When the freeze rolls over, slowly open your water main and pay attention to your walls and ceilings where the water pipes run. If you notice any leaks or dark spots appearing on your walls, shot off your water and fix it.
David Stearns
21 kun oldin
Good tips and always prudent steps but folks seem to be waiting for someone else to take those precautions.
urgdaddy
29 kun oldin
God Bless Generac, Largest distributor is in Houston.
Relias Brothers
29 kun oldin
Texas well most of Texas is pretty dum no cap no cap
Happycrusher
29 kun oldin
Even the electrical supply in the US is Just old and a Joke. In Germany a normal Winter night is - 10 °c ( dont know what that in Fahrenheit is, noone uses that exept the US ) and Not one country in Europe has These Problems. The US hat enough time to prepare . But they need to Pay there Money for some new Fighter plane
speedyfireball
29 kun oldin
As a Canadian, when I first saw Texas I was like "Oh! How pretty!"
C H I V E S
Oy oldin
i wanna go hoooooooooome i wanna go hoome! -sandy cheeks
fox gamming
Oy oldin
i live in texas and i lost power for a day! and i wont lie it was not fun at all, as soon as the heater in my house had stopped working it got cold with in a few hours it was way below freezing in my town!, my grandmothers pipes busted thankfully it wasn't bad me and my dad got it repaired fast, after that power had come back on and would go out again, and it would do that for 2 days before we deemed it safe to restore our computers!. I will say that it can get cold out here in texas at the normal for my area, it can get down to 32f!, and in the past its got down to 20f before and our grid stayed online, but this last freeze we had was different it hit so fast and hard the grid just couldn't take it!, sorry for the long comment i wanted to share my story of the lone star black out!
Blake the Tank
Oy oldin
Shoutout to Nissan of McKinney lol
Mia Khalifa
Oy oldin
The disgusted politician mathematically curl because city impressively irritate off a drunk elbow. icy, blue sprout
archtroll
Oy oldin
texas.. home of Enron and the great 2021 power failure. The energy state!
YinzerJr79
Oy oldin
Vox, is that graph at 5:30 taking inflation into account? Like is that all in current USD?
Bence H
Oy oldin
In America, as long as something isn't worth it for large companies, it won't happen.
ANIMATION WEB 3
Oy oldin
Shouldn't have voted for Conservatives 😂 Bonk!
MsMeditatingPanda
Oy oldin
I'm a Texan. Was here in 1989 don't remember anyone we knew losing power like this. After surviving this I just want to know what's going to be done about it. Some died, some barely made it. Some are elderly or sick. Some of us can't afford another storm like this. They want to raise the electricity bills on people already stretched. Some of these people can't afford a decent generator. By the grace of God did my family only lose electricity. If we had lost water or had a pipe burst ....I don't even want to know. If you made it without both much love and respect to you. I pray I never forget this but I want to do something about it.
Usarkar Zts
3 kun oldin
@Darryl Davis lol, you are deluded.
Usarkar Zts
4 kun oldin
@Darryl Davis what? You truly believe that?
Vladimir Putin
Oy oldin
I live in Texas and why electricity went out 3:21 am Me watching this me ohhhhh
PriusRaj
Oy oldin
Lost power during that. Worst winter of my life, and I grew up in Iowa.
wig smey
Oy oldin
So we work together, whether we like it or not 😂
Alex Tsahalis
Oy oldin
Way to go, Texas!! Yeehaw!!
J G
Oy oldin
Now, why did they go it alone? Greed.
J G
Oy oldin
Still not too late to make it “last months”!
KendrixTermina
Oy oldin
regulation is good actually
EdricLysharae
Oy oldin
Sure you want to stand alone, Lone Star State?
王思聪是我哥
Oy oldin
One of my friend died because of this
alenworkar345 misse456
Oy oldin
The synonymous valley architecturally owe because raincoat concretely surround anenst a assorted yak. shrill, belligerent drink
Akshay S. Kumar
Oy oldin
Texas is God’s own country
Akshay S. Kumar
Oy oldin
@s H nah Israel is Jews country
s H
Oy oldin
Interresting. I thought its Israel
Tardar Sauce
Oy oldin
Federal regulations are just part of Big Gov's plan to take away our freedom and money, amirite?? Surely it has nothing to do with common sense and basic logic, right???
s H
Oy oldin
Well the states with regulations, didnt had any problems