Texas Cold Weather Caused By Global Warming, Says Renewables Lobbyist
By Paul Homewood
A quick update on the WUWT post:
By Robert Bradley Jr. — January 18, 2024
“The fix is in with Doug Lewin, whose mission is the eradication of fossil fuels in power generation via the ‘virtual power plant’… Pick your term between ‘energy transformation,’ ‘deep decarbonization,’ Net Zero, Green New Deal.”
Doug Lewin, climate alarmist and PR voice for the Texas renewables industry, posts on social media with the tag line, “Growing jobs, increasing justice, and reducing pollution in Texas.” In his Texas Energy and Power Newsletter, he blamed the state’s current freeze on Global Warming (aka climate change) as follows:
Climate Impacts: We’ve Seen This Movie Before
A few days ago, when the forecasts for Jan. 15 were still at or near freezing, I started feeling like we’ve seen this movie before: warnings of a weakening polar vortex, steadily worsening forecasts each day … This is what happened in February 2021 and December 2022. And it’s happening again.
These severe storms did not used to be so common. But this will be the third time in four winters that one has hit Texas. This underscores the growing body of data that suggests climate change is fueling Arctic warming, which weakens the polar vortex (a jet stream-like air current 10-30 miles above the Earth) allowing Arctic blasts and exceptionally low temperatures into the continental US.
Monique Sellers of the National Weather Service talked with the Dallas Morning News about the connection to climate change. “Climate change plays a role, Sellers said. The average winter temperature in Texas is rising. But conditions are also more volatile, with intense, short-term freezes increasing in likelihood each year.”
“‘One of the confounding conundrums of climate change is that winter has become warmer, but we have more deep freezes,’ Sellers said.”
We’re unfortunately getting more evidence of this with each passing year. Texas is growing. If future winter storms are going to be more extreme, we need to be ready. Peak demand on cold winter mornings is growing at a stunning rate…. We’ve got to act — quickly — to address the other side of the supply-demand equation.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/01/18/severe-cold-from-global-warming-nope-doug-lewin-in-error/
Robert Bradley goes on to debunk the silly claim. But as is always the case with alarmist scare stories, they never seem to present any hard data.
So here’s some from CLIMOD:
The first graph shows the lowest max temperature each winter at Dallas; the second the number of days below 30C:
http://climod2.nrcc.cornell.edu/
Plainly there was nothing unprecedented about the 2021 extreme cold, nor are such events becoming more frequent, as Lewin claims.
Temperatures this week fell as low as 23F, with 3 days below 30F. Again nothing unusual.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
There are no lies too big for the renewable energy lobbyists.
This underscores the growing body of data that suggests climate change is fueling Arctic warming, which weakens the polar vortex
Where is this ‘body of data’?
“The first graph…number of days below 30C” – that should be 30F.
The Arctic Warming seems to have been resulting in more Arctic ice. Plus it seems to be getting colder again compared with recent years.
https://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php
One of the ways the alarmist professionals get themselves in trouble is “predicting”. With his hair on fire Mr. Lewin cries “we’re seeing the same pattern again”….. except we didn’t. I’ve lived here, in the middle of Texas, about 30 minutes south of Austin, at the edge of Hill Country, for 13 years. Long enough to have see the last three really cold episodes. This time, after 4 days of freezing, with little precipitation, so little ice and little snow, we warmed up. Tonight we should just touch 24F, after that we move to spring like temperatures. Our power in this area has held, and the biggest problem has been people’s pipes freezing. I’ll let the scientists explain to Mr. Lewin why is theory is good for nothing but bringing in consulting fees, but he needs to read up on Texas history if he thinks things have never been worse in the past.
More coal-fired power stations (of robust design) and less reliance on renewables would probably increase resiliance. Do many Texas homes use gas for heating?
Having an independent power supply for the gas delivery network would be a good idea as this would have kept the gas powerstations running.
+ all generation capacity (including wind & solar) must have on site fuel storage that would last at least a week that is technically capable of being available during cold & hot nights. – wind & solar can do this using gas engines
As it would probably be quicker to modify CCGTs to burn kerosene and LPG than build new coal & nuclear power stations so start with that as a short term measure.
Also decide if electricity is a service like it was under the regulated vertically integrated utility days and the utility can make long term decisions like building new coal & nuclear power stations and spreading out their cost over a long term period.
or a commodity as the current distorted market looks like something that would have being dreamed up in the Soviet union as until residential electricity customers are fully exposed to their electricity usage choice instead of these being socialised i.e. the person who isn’t using electric heat doesn’t have to pay for the infrastructure including the lightly used gas turbine capacity that make it possible for someone else to use 10KW+ when its -18°C outside.
As households could then respond (although landlords may need an incentive as they may not be the one paying the bill) by switching to gas for heating (& possibly air conditioning) or having an alternative fuel if they use electricity in milder weather instead of needing the infrastructure to cover 70-80 GW peaks.
Also we have gas powered heat pumps which you would think would be encouraged as they would be more efficient than gas CCGT and electric heat pumps
“Do many Texas homes use gas for heating?”
33% and I suspect the age of the home is the controlling factor but I suspect more than that have a gas connection for gas cookers & bbqs but use a reverse cycle air conditioner AKA a heat pump as it was cheaper for the developers since air conditioning was needed anyway.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1231906/residential-heating-fuel-distribution-in-texas/