Reality Mostly Wins

I listen to some of David Roberts’ Volts podcast, and one of his interesting guests was Texas clean-energy advocate Dave Lewin. The subject was Texas’ energy grid, especially after the storm that made Ted Cruz flee to Cancun: winter storm Uri.

I’m surely going to miss some details, but the gist is that Texas’ grid is separate from the rest of the US, and governed by a law signed by GW Bush that states that they must prefer the cheapest energy source around. So, wind, solar and battery banks have become far more prevalent on the grid post-Uri. Solar capacity has gone up 10X, batteries from nothing (200 megawatts) to 11,000 megawatts, and wind has also increased. So, in this case, the free market did solve something. In fact, electricity is so cheap and plentiful that many manufacturers in Texas are moving towards converting their plants to grid electricity instead of generating power onsite.

The Texas state legislature is upset and naturally wants to to what Republicans do every time their precious free market wrongs one of their interest groups: legislate against reality. So, they’re talking about changing Texas energy law to mandate a certain percentage of gas-powered plants. It’s not clear whether they’ll get that done.

Another place the all-knowing free market is slapping Republican climate dogma upside the head is property insurance. You might think it’s only Florida and California, but new data publicized by the Revolving Door Project shows that it’s also North Carolina and areas of the Plains and Midwest states where insurers are pulling out:

That map shows “non renewals” and the closer to red, the higher percentage of insurers choosing not to renew property owner policies. Hurricane and fire-prone areas are the reddest, but look at Western North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Insurers were clearly willing to pay weather forecasters even if Trump isn’t, and even two years ago they knew where they would be facing losses due to climate change. The whole Revolving Door piece is worth a read if you’re interested.

As those of you who follow me on BlueSky know, I often report on what I see on the TV at the gym, including what Fox is putting on the air. They’re actually pretty good at coverage of natural disasters since they’ll still pay to send reporters to them (or use local affiliates). But reports detailing increased use of renewables in Texas, or how climate change is affecting insurance, aren’t ever going to be run on that network. But look at that map — the places being hit aren’t only blue dots like New Orleans. There’s a winning political message here that combines lived experience (insurance cancellation and cheap Texas electricity) with Democratic programs that aren’t based on fairy tales.