[steam_cannon]

High temps + Air Conditioning + Maxed out Power Grid = Blackout

Also, I suspect the "computer problem" they are blaming it on, probably just means that the computer didn't find any more power to switch around the grid for all the AC and had to start shutting it down. Considering the weather conditions hitting that area right now, it's highly likely that their grid was at maximum capacity, so a computer error sounds like a really fishy excuse...

[coyote]

With temperatures around the 110s. Not happy.....

[yesplease]

AC in the desert has got to be the dumbest idea...

[Cobra_Strike]

The 'computer error' was on a computer that is designed to load shed according to what I read earlier. The 'official' quoted in the article said it was not a problem, and from a false reading.

I am willing to bet that the load got high enough to be essentially equal to the maximum, it was not a overload....just a way of preventing one.

More to follow? Likely, is my guess.

[Eli]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yesplease', 'A')C in the desert has got to be the dumbest idea...

[Baldwin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', 'T')he Pink on the map is God's way of saying, "don't live here, it'll melt a Barbie doll."

[gampy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yesplease', 'A')C in the desert has got to be the dumbest idea...

[rsch20]

It is funny, but it's also accurate. It sounds like an exageration but it really isn't.

I live in Tucson, a couple days ago at work I threw away a few black plastic containers that toner cartridges are stored in. One of them was sitting in direct sunlight and when I came back out less than an hour later to throw something else away that container was droopy and glistening, literally melted out of shape.

Phoenix is on average a few degrees hotter than us, and yes it's stupid to live here.

The U of A held a little event a few days ago where they left food in cars to cook to demonstrate the danger to kids and pets.

Yummy

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AZ Daily Star', 'B')ut it was hot enough to cook the brownies and the rice. A cooking thermometer plunged into the Spanish rice read 170 degrees after the baking dish was pulled from a car.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', 'T')he Pink on the map is God's way of saying, "don't live here, it'll melt a Barbie doll."

[BastardSquad]

I'm smack dab in the middle of the country,we're getting so much rain and cool weather this year it's starting to creep me out.This just isn"t normal.

[PeakOiler]

Lots of rain and cooler temps here lately in Central Texas too.
Utility bills so far this year for my all-electric 3-2:
Jan $87
Feb $121
March $62
April $58
May $41
June $49

I noted on the map above that it's hotter in many other places in the US than in Texas.

Sure am glad I don't have to spend hundreds of dollars each winter month for fuel oil, propane, or natural gas. It costs less to stay cool than to stay warm.

The power was out for about 14 hrs this last week, however, due to storms. I care less about AC, and the frig has highest priority to keep running.

[skeptic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')
It's so hot there parts of the interior of your car will deform and melt. You also get "hot wheel" and that's when the steering wheel of your car is so hot it feels like you will blister the skin on your hands. If I end up there ever again and have a car I'm either going to wrap the wheel in white leather or that white cloth tape, or wear driving gloves.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('skeptic', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')
It's so hot there parts of the interior of your car will deform and melt. You also get "hot wheel" and that's when the steering wheel of your car is so hot it feels like you will blister the skin on your hands. If I end up there ever again and have a car I'm either going to wrap the wheel in white leather or that white cloth tape, or wear driving gloves.

[PeakOiler]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')It costs less to stay cool than to stay warm.

[vision-master]

You can always put on more clothes in the winter........

[PeakOiler]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'Y')ou can always put on more clothes in the winter........

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeakOiler', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'Y')ou can always put on more clothes in the winter........

[frankthetank]

Thats why your better off just heating one room and leaving the rest of the house chilly. Got to be cheaper and atleast you stay comfortable in that room.

[Tyler_JC]

Adding insulation, throwing on a few fans, building more south-facing windows, putting overhangs on the windows, etc. can take care of most of one's heating/cooling needs.

We just have to stop building these F***ing things:



Sure, it's beautiful. But why are we building giant glass greenhouses for people to work in during the hot Texas summer?????

Much of America's electricity usage is in the form of heating and cooling the idiotic Greenhouse Office Buildings that have been built over the past 50 years.

[PeakOiler]

Great pic Tyler.

Hasn't Japan built a few buildings like that but were covered with PV instead of just glass?