In February 2021, a major winter storm affected the central and eastern United States. In the state of Texas, electricity and water supplies were severely impacted, leading to blackouts across the state that have persisted for over a week as of this writing. In news and social media, many competing explanations for the utility failures have been offered, as well as misleading memes. In this article, I address some of this misinformation and provide links to factual sources. Frozen wind turbines de-iced by helicopters?
A viral meme circulating on social media following the Texas power crisis claims to show a wind turbine being de-iced by a helicopter, presumably in Texas. The caption reads “A helicopter running on fossil fuel spraying a chemical made from fossil fuels on a wind turbine made with fossil fuels during an ice storm is awesome.”
Many fact checkers have already debunked this meme, mainly by pointing out that the photo is from 2014 not 2021, is in Sweden not Texas, and is a helicopter spraying hot water not any chemical de-icers. The implication that desperate, fossil fuel burning methods of restarting frozen wind turbines in Texas are being used is also false as only 7% of the Texas energy mix comes from wind power during winter months and failures in traditional, fossil-fuel based power generation are largely responsible for the crisis
Sources:
https://climatefeedback.org/claimreview/viral-photo-of-a-helicopter-de-icing-a-wind-turbine-is-from-sweden-not-texas-current-power-outages-in-texas-are-due-to-multiple-fuel-types-going-offline/
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-helicopter-turbine-sweden-n-idUSKBN2AH22H
Green Energy to Blame?
In the aftermath of the Texas blackouts, many Texas politicians, conservative media commentators, and social media users claimed that frozen wind turbines were the primary cause of the electricity shortfall in Texas. This claim has been used to deflect criticism from Texas officials as well as sow uncertainty about the use of wind power in general.
However, fact checkers and national media have debunked these claims and established that frozen wind turbines did not significantly contribute to the power crisis in Texas, and in fact are only a small part (approx. 7%) of the mix of electricity production in Texas. Rather, the failure comes down to:
A system-wide shortage of natural gas due to overdemand for heating and frozen gas pipelines reduced the availability for electricity production at gas power plants. Extra power capacity held in reserve by gas power plants was not available because there was insufficient natural gas to meet the demands of the entire system.
Reduced capacity across the entire Texas power grid due to frozen water lines at nuclear plants and frozen coal supplies coupled with a massive increase in demand for electricity to heat homes and businesses created a power shortage and resulted in rolling and permanent blackouts statewide.
The Texas power grid, called ERCOT, exists independently from the two larger grids which serve the eastern and western United States. This was a political decision made decades ago to prevent the federal government from having oversight over electricity management in Texas. Limited interconnections to the eastern grid exist but have low capacity to import power into Texas. As a result, ERCOT was unable to meet demand by quickly tapping into power from the rest of the country.
Sources:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/even-power-disasters-are-bigger-in-texas-heres-why/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/climate/texas-blackouts-disinformation.html
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/texas-wind-turbines-frozen/
Global warming debunked by cold winter weather?
Some online commenters have claimed that the presence of cold weather in Texas is evidence that global warming is a hoax or is false. A NOAA graph circulating on social media reportedly shows that winter temperatures in the United States are decreasing year-over-year, which is again being used to claim global warming is not happening.
Using this graph in this way is misleading because it only shows winter months during a specific timeframe and does not provide any context. The source of the graph, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reports that average annual temperatures are consistently higher than previous records and averages, and December 2020 was over 3 degrees F above average. NOAA recognizes and reports on the existence and effects of climate change as a core function of its mission. Furthermore, increasing extremes in winter weather including colder temperatures are an expected outcome of climate change and not an indication that it isn’t happening, according to virtually all climate scientists.
Sources:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/national/rankings/110/tavg/202012#1
https://www.noaa.gov/climate
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/does-cold-weather-disprove-climate-change
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-colder-winters-global-warming-polar-vortex
