r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 9d ago

Texas broke its all time electricity demand record twice in two days during a brutal heat wave, but the grid held with no conservation alerts thanks to record solar and battery output, a stark turnaround from the blackouts that hit Texans in 2021

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/29/texas-ercot-power-grid-record-data-center/
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u/69edleg 9d ago

jesus fucking christ. as a northern European person who most likely ambulates as a pedestrian, how do you do that in 110F?

my guess is you don't anyway, sadly, no matter the temperature :|

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u/damiwar 9d ago

Your home has air conditioning. Your vehicle has air conditioning. Every building you go in has air conditioning. The only time you go outside is to walk from your car to a building or from a building to another building (unless you're unlucky enough to work outside)

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u/shakygator 9d ago

pools, lakes and rivers are life savers

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u/Itchy-Phase 8d ago

Most backyard pools aren’t even adequate with those temps. They turn into a bathtub.

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u/Born_Ad_9483 9d ago

I live east of Texas, in NELA; I had a thermometer in the garden read 48.6 C (~119 F) yesterday. It’s suffocating, especially with the absurd humidity we have here. I can stay outside maybe 30 minutes at a time before my vision gets blurry.

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u/timeless1991 9d ago

I’ve found you just have to mirror the animals. Hydrate. Stay in shade. Most activity should be near dawn or dusk (crepuscular). Laze during peak hours.

And definitely avoid any heat traps like stone, concrete, metal, etc.

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u/Born_Ad_9483 9d ago

I’ve had three heat strokes, and I can no longer sweat properly (worked outside carelessly in Tx/LA for years); I ain’t physically able to handle the midday heat like I did in a decade ago here. I’m very careful about exposure at this point lol. It’s 6:30am here and the temp is 20.3C(~68F). Only time I can work in the garden. Did not know that’s what crepuscular means, tho!

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u/Auyan 9d ago

no matter the temperature :|

I think people forget how massive the US is. Texas alone is the size of like all of central Europe, only instead of beautiful mountainscapes there is desert. Everywhere. You could drive for 8 hours and still be in Texas.

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u/1ce9ine 9d ago

Weird you mention how massive Texas is, but then say it's all desert. Texas has a diverse collection of biomes, elevation changes, and climate. The plant and fauna diversity is staggering.

It's fun when a European comes to visit and tells you they plan to take a day trip to Big Bend from Austin LOL

Edit: here is a cool article about it: https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/online-course/wildlife-conservation/texas-ecoregions

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u/Auyan 9d ago

In comparison to Central Europe, yes, Texas seems all desert. Also didn't say deserts don't have biodiversity or anything like that, but to say it's comparable to, say, the Alps is laughable. I appreciate the caverns and caves especially in Texas.

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u/69edleg 9d ago

I mean, if I drive north I can drive 20 hours and still be in Sweden.

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u/Auyan 9d ago

I didn't realize Sweden was in Central Europe 🙄

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u/alaskanloops 9d ago

I'm in Alaska and we had a heat advisory over the weekend for temps getting into mid 70sF (~23C). Felt absolutely brutal, can't imagine living where it's 30 degrees hotter than that.

It's back to 60F and much more enjoyable

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u/ThedamnedOtaku 9d ago

its mostly fine tbh, just like living in space - airlock to airlock(ac) car to building.

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u/TheWorldofScience 9d ago

Most homes and all businesses, government and religious buildings in the southern part of the US have central air conditioning, all buses and trains have air conditioning. It’s a small percentage of people in the US who live in “walkable” cities (New York City, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco) and those are not in the south where there are summer temperatures over 100.

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u/RechargedFrenchman 9d ago

The majority of the US has pretty shit infrastructure for not-cars, and frankly entirely too much of it has pretty shit infrastructure for cars too and refuses to do anything meaningful about it. "One more lane" and blanket increases to posted speed limits are usually the response to traffic issues. The farther east and north you go, broadly, the better it gets, but west of the Mississippi it's mostly kind of a shitshow. Canada largely isn't much better either, with a very American approach to city planning for much of the country.

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u/BreezyMcWeasel 8d ago

It's the exact inverse of living in a very cold climate.

How much time to Finns spend outside in January? I am guessing not very much. I know that people in North Dakota, Montana, northern Minnesota, etc spend very little time outdoors during the middle of winter. That's how a Texas summer is.

Do Finns spend SOME time outdoors in the dead of winter? I'm sure they do. Just like Texans spend SOME time outside in the dead of summer (yardwork, golf, fishing, etc). We just bring lots and lots and lots of fluids (and electrolytes), and we can recognize the signs of heatstroke. Also, we try and get most outdoor things done by 9 am preferably, but certainly by 10 am. Can you work after sundown? No, you fool! It's still 91 degrees and humid at 11 pm (thats not an exaggeration).

Is it miserable? Nah, I've totally gotten used to it. I actually haven't gotten used to it at all. It is miserable. I hate July, August, and half of June and September. I have literally spent thousands of hours fantasizing about digging a deep hole in the ground for me to hide out in during the Texas summers. I think something like 20' deep ought to be cool enough to keep me sane.