#Washington black out Patch#

Greg Abbott and Land Commissioner George P. Many anti-renewable conservatives were quick to blame a few wind turbines in north Texas for failing to produce their scheduled quotas and plunging Texas into the dark. Let’s dispel some ideological myths about what caused this mess. Texas simultaneously rivals Saudi Arabia in petroleum production Wind Turbines Icing Did Not Cause the Blackout Texas is the sixth largest producer of wind power in the world, producing twice as much a California.

#Washington black out Patch#

It runs through America’s oil patch while creating a benevolent environment for renewables. Texas has a unique grid, mostly independent from federal oversight, that blends various regulatory mandates with market forces. Providing fuel for our lives and livelihoods in an economical and sustainable manner has been my passion and has taken me from FERC, to the Clinton-Gore White House, to the Department of Energy, and finally to Houston where I bring solar power plants to life and review financing of energy efficiency retrofits.Īs the lights slowly come back on, what did and did not happen is being revealed. Behind this massive grid failure is a system that operates in real time, feeding off countless smart meters pulsing data in 15-minute intervals.Īs a young law student in 1990, I clerked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under Texan Martin Allday, who was quick to point out that all other industries rely on the energy industry. We often take for granted how much of our daily lives depend on a massive complicated electrical grid that is simultaneously invisible and, on every power pole and in every room, visible with a light switch and electrical outlet. The Texas Blackout of 2021 was primarily a human failure, not a technology, regulatory, or market failure that can easily be fixed with innovation, legislation, or policy changes. All of this is happening amid a pandemic.

Use this guide to discover U Street’s rich, indelible past for yourself.The world’s Energy Capital, Houston, just suffered one of the greatest energy failures in America with 4.4 million people left to face arctic temperatures with no heat, no light, little food, and freezing water lines. As Haynesworth's immersive, multi-platform project shows us, history is something best experienced firsthand. Haynesworth is working hard to ensure that the story of Black Broadway is not forgotten with Black Broadway on U: A Transmedia Project. White-owned businesses descended upon the neighborhood, and Black Broadway was slowly erased from history, preserved only by the stories and memories of its former residents.Īward-winning multimedia maker, storyteller, and multi-generational native Washingtonian Shellée M. Iconic figures like Zora Neale Hurston and Mary McLeod Bethune found refuge in Black Broadway, and performers such as Louis Armstrong and Billie Holliday made regular appearances there.īut when the city became desegregated and black families began to patronize venues that had formerly been off-limits, U Street’s economy collapsed. Once known as “Black Broadway,” U Street was a thriving center of African-American culture and social change, an oasis of innovation in a city scarred by Jim Crow laws throughout the late-19th and early-20th centuries.

Washington D.C.’s historically black neighborhood of U Street is a treasure trove of African-American history hiding in plain sight.