At some point, Texas – a state run solely by Republicans for Republicans and a state with a totally separate and independent power grid, is going to have to do one of two things, either admit that climate change is real and start making some changes that can help in the future, or spend some money to update and uprate their grid even if it comes at the cost of helping the poors. If there was a Democrat around he or she would suggest they do both.

Until then, get used to seeing more of this from the Texas Tribune:

With a punishing heat wave across Texas driving record high power demand, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas late Sunday sent out a request that Texans cut back on their energy use on Monday.

ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, asked Texans to turn up their thermostats and postpone running major appliances between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday. ERCOT has also called on large electric customers to lower their electricity use…

…Texas is facing extreme heat conditions, with much of the state under temperatures above 100 degrees. As of Monday morning, the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories or an excessive heat warnings for 154 of the state’s 254 counties. Some regions are breaking heat records: On Sunday, San Antonio saw the hottest temperatures on record in the city at 106 degrees while Austin hit an all-time record high for July at 110 degrees.

According to the Tribune, the total forecasted power demand is expected to surpass 79 gigawatts on Monday, which would set another record. The matter is made even worse because there is very little wind to push the windmills and so we’ll hear about how “green energy” is horrible at the same point in time when they’ll wish that they had ten times more solar panels throughout the state.

But because of that, Texas is asking people to not use the dryer or the stove at… dinner time:

ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, asked Texans to turn up their thermostats and postpone running major appliances between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday. ERCOT has also called on large electric customers to lower their electricity use.

Maybe someday they’ll elect a Democrat with some alternative ideas.

And this is rather funny, but the heat is no joke. Older people, people with disabilities, animals, and many other simply can’t deal with the heat. You’d think Abbott would’ve figured this out by now.

@iamlaurencompton Whatever’s in my mailbox can wait till Christmas 🎄🔥 #texasheat #mail #nottoday ♬ Funny Song – Cavendish Music

****

[email protected], with Nicole Hickman