Why did Texas lose power? Math — apolitical, non-ideological, and sometimes cruel math.
During such an extreme cold for which Texas is mostly unprepared, the demands on the electric grid exceeded its output capacity. The majority of Texans heat their home with electricity, and, under typical circumstances, it makes sense. Why spend money to bring natural gas heat into the home when it’s very likely you can go an entire winter without turning it on? As temperatures plummeted, Texans turned on and turned up the heat.
But something else was happening. The extreme cold was impacting all electricity production. All of it: coal, natural gas, nuclear, but most of all wind.
Trending: Lin Wood Leaks Whistleblower Transcripts Exposing VP Pence
The Department of Energy tracks electricity generation hourly. On Sunday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m., this was Texas’s electricity makeup in kilowatt-hours:
Natural Gas: 43,798 Coal: 10,828 Wind: 8,087 Nuclear: 5,140
The next day, during the height of the storm at 8 p.m., this was the
