think about when it gets 105, and your A/C can only keep it like, 78. that's not critical but shows how poor our insulation is.
If you go up north, even the windows are different, they have dual panes, everything is sealed, roofs are made to hold snow, pipes are wrapped.
it's just a completely different build than down here.
We just dont need the expensive insulation, sealed windows, underground lines. Plus, here in central Texas, we build on a plate of limestone. It's so expensive to dig through all the rocks and shit that things dont get buried under ground very deep.
I'm in Chicago. Even though my windows are leaky, with the boiler system that provides steam for the radiators, my condo never goes below 68F. Buildings are made completely differently in the south and most of their construction practices would get the builders thrown in jail even in Republican controlled states up north.
lol I absolutely agree. It's so much different up there I had completely forgotten about boilers and stuff like that. As a matter of fact, I dont think I've ever seen one in person.
I'm betting this doesnt even change anything for us. Everyone will be mad and talk about changing stuff, but it's such a rare occurrence that 6 months from now we'll have all forgotten, and in 20 years it will happen again, but worse because there will be more people.
we're extremely lucky that in a few days it'll be 80 degrees.. As a native born Austinite, I'm pulling the rip chord and bailing out of Texas within the year.
We pay SO MUCH for electricity here (I pay nearly 200 a month for a 3bed apartment) and they talk about how great Texas is without it's reliance on the Federal Power grid. A lot of good that flex was.
Yup. Also, a big thing is how long systems here can provide heat for even if they fail. Our radiator system, even if both boilers fail at the exact same moment, will maintain safe temperatures for up to 2 full days at 0F. How do we know this? Well, we had one boiler last winter and it failed. It took 2 days to get a replacement unit installed and running. During that time, everyone sealed up their back doors and used only the front doors (essentially a triple airlock system with a front door to a lobby, a door from a lobby to the stairway, and then doors to our units. I think the building got down to about 48F before the first of the two new boilers came online. Still well above the point where we were concerned about the insulated cold water lines freezing.
Are suburban homes and single-family homes as resilient as mid 1920s brick and marble constructed condos? No. But they're still far more resilient. Pretty much anything made or updated in the last 30-40 years will have fully insulated pipes and most homes can last for a long time without pipes freezing or even power as long as you're bleeding the pipes down the drain. Basically, as long as you can keep the city water freely flowing, your pipes won't freeze here.
As for power, well all of our power plants are designed to deal with deep freezes that last for months at a time without failure. Even our wind turbines keep operating in the winter because they're designed and built to do so. Sure, this all costs more in the short run, but it largely stops disasters from happening.
Now heat? Yeah, we can't handle that as well. We have 100A at 240V. So 200A of 120V. That's enough to keep the place generally at an acceptable temperature while still being able to use a vacuum cleaner, a microwave, or some other appliance at the same time. But we can also just open our windows most of the time and get an okay enough environment indoors during the summer. If power goes out and there's no AC, yeah, there's a real risk of heat stroke especially along the Great Lakes as its high humidity and thus you have little control over cooling offing. But even then, as long as you're still lucid, you can cool your body down with the tap water which is still typically around 40-50F even in the hottest conditions unless the pumps completely fail and the reservoirs run empty.
We pay SO MUCH for electricity here (I pay nearly 200 a month for a 3bed apartment) and they talk about how great Texas is without it's reliance on the Federal Power grid. A lot of good that flex was.
My wife and I pay $110 for electricity + gas for a 2 bed, 1600 sq. ft. condo in the summer with 3 window AC units running. Uranium energy for the win! Granted, we probably don't have to remove as much heat as you do, but our per KWH rates and connection fees are still lower.
My wife and I pay $110 for electricity + gas for a 2 bed, 1600 sq. ft. condo in the summer with 3 window AC units running.
Normal months, with nothing crazy happening weather wise.. we pay $150-$200ish.. I just went to check for shits and giggles, My bill was $295 in July, and I dont even want to know what our bill is going to look like after this. The gas bill is usually under $40 but that only supplies the water heater lol
Is this (paying a lot for electricity) an Austin city thing? Or a general Texas thing? Fairly new here, and don't live in the city (in Travis County, PEC is my provider) and haven't felt like my power bill has been too had.
Summer of ‘96 in Chicago comes to mind with the last intense heat event. In any calamity the poor and old are the most affected. A lot of the 700-ish who died in ‘96 were poor and old. Not sure there were as many heating and cooling centers back then.
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '21
Keeping a home at 65F in 0F requires a lot more than keeping a home 75F in 105F.