Stage 2 Water Conservation Measures

No lawn watering between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. (From May 1 – September 30), mandatory watering schedule, etc.

I wonder how this affects the golf course.

Interpreting ERCOT tea leaves

Since the first rolling blackouts caught everyone by surprise, I've been trying to figure out how we tell what's going on for ourselves. Sharing what unscientific, unverified info I have grokked below.

ERCOT operations messages are listed here. Also in a handy RSS form. These appear to be the best real-time information available to the public.

Heavy on energy market terms like DAM (Day Ahead Market), the most important stuff for us appears to be the EEA levels:

EEA Level 1 - All available resources in use. Discretionary ("non-firm") energy sales stop.

EEA Level 2 - Load Management procedures in effect; no longer able to meet demand. Public appeals to reduce demand. Reduction in voltage. Interruption of power to entities who have signed contracts allowing such. Make use of "all resources".
2a - Medium potential for outages.
2b - High potential for outages.

EEA Level 3 - Forseen or actual loss of power. Rotating blackouts, etc.





Also, here's a fun "load shedding" training doc to peruse.

Grid emergency = rolling blackouts

Power went out this A.M. Called Oncor: recording said Tx grid is in trouble, and they are having rolling 15-minute blackouts to limit damage. Actually lasted about 9mins at my location.


Note: It's showing up in Oncor's tweets now:

billcarleton Bill Carleton
@oncor why no advanced notice that you will be rotating grid outages?
28 minutes ago
in reply to @billcarleton ↑

@oncor
Oncor
@billcarleton Sorry for your inconvenience. We found out <1 hour ago from ERCOT, who operates the state's electrical grid. Please be safe.

{Edited to add: just put the Oncor outage number 1-888-313-4747 in my cellphone yesterday. Guess that paid off.}

{Another edit: another round from 7:47a - 8:03a. If this is going to go on all day i'll leave my PCs off and just use this laptop.}

Oncor admits meter-reading error

But it turns out the error was in reading the old meters during the changeover to the new meters.

If this is true only the first bill should be out of whack.

Sanity check: water system

Dear Wife's BFF emailed over the weekend to say that his city suddenly had an E. Coli problem in their water supply and it was not safe to drink untreated. He went on to say that his local shops were sold out of drinking water.

So... pretend for a few minutes how your household would handle lack of access to safe drinking water for, say, a week. If the fecal bacteria story above doesn't do it for you pretend we had an unexpected hard freeze[0] and your home's water pipes burst from freezing; your water is cut off at the water meter until the overworked plumber can get there.

Here are some resources that may help:

• COR: Know What 2 Do brochure (PDF, personalized from the site below)
• North Texas Emergency Preparedness: www.KnoWhat2Do.com
  
• FEMA: prepping water
  
• FEMA: managing your existing water
• EPA: emergency disinfection of drinking water
• Cornell: good collection of water storage and disinfection resources
  

bloggermouse,
who has more questions than answers


[0] Impossible? How about today's sudden snowfall? How many weathercasters called that one for this morning?

Water bill envelope

I assume this reusable thing must save money/paper when compared to a seperate envelope but I find it annoying. Particularly when humidity is high and the gummed strip sticks to itself when folded up.

I didn't see any mention on the COR website about envelope cost savings. Anyone know if we are saving money on this deal?

Power outage on Summit and Spring Valley

Power just came back on after about an hour and a half. According to scanner traffic a transformer blew.

Lessons learned:

1. my cellphone was less charged than it should have been.
2. I only knew the precise location of one flashlight
3. coleman lanterns and kerosene lamps can really light up the back porch.

Power situation

Got this update:

Jul 8, 2009
Power Watch: High Electricity Demand Predicted Today

Power Watch: Conservation Needed

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), grid operator for most of the state, and the Public Utility Commission, are encouraging consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity use today during peak electricity hours from 3 to 7 p.m. due to expected high electricity usage.

Full article at the link above.

You know, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if all that money adventuring overseas were spent on our own infrastructure.

water main break?

Looks like something came loose near Grove and (guessing here) Melody. Water running off for a few blocks downhill from there. City trucks out there and the COR utilities channels carrying a lot of chatter.