168: Why Does Texas Lose Power During Storms? Power Grid 101 + The History of Electricity in the US

When you plug in to an outlet or flip a switch, I bet you don’t think twice about if power will actually come from that action. One of our favorite things to talk about over here is science that influences our everyday lives – which happens to be science we just don’t know about when we should. We’re talking today about power grids, energy reliability, and how America manages the supply and demand of electricity. This leads us to answer our ultimate Q: why does the state of Texas so often lose power during extreme weather events? Let’s better understand ERCOT, FDR’s 1935 infrastructure package, what it means for a grid to be *regulated*…. all the things that allow us to usually not think twice about our electric bills. We also go through a quick timeline on energy in the US (spoiler: I refer to both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison as “our boys”) and get some perspective on why power is priced the way it is.

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