Houston, You Have a Problem. And So Do We

When Hurricane Beryl came ashore in southeast Texas early last week, it was a mere Category 1 hurricane.

But that was enough to give the Houston region a first-class polycrisis built on inadequate infrastructure.

It also gave us reason to look at our own power resources challenged by climate change.

What happened when the power went out

Of course Beryl caused floods, but Houston always floods. Beryl also knocked out much of the electrical grid, triggering a rush of other problems. Traffic signals went out, resulting in enormous traffic jams. Gas stations without electricity couldn’t refuel cars; those with power had long lineups to deal with.

Even businesses with electricity often found themselves struggling. Many were short-staffed, as employees were marooned in blacked-out neighbourhoods far across town. The same was true of hospitals and other health-care facilities.

Downtown Houston suffered a spill of 154,000 gallons (583,000 litres) of “domestic wastewater” — a polite term for raw sewage.

And with no power, Houston had another infrastructure problem: no air conditioning, while the heat index (a combination of heat and humidity) soared to 106 F (41 C) late last week.

The total economic loss due to Beryl was estimated at $30 billion — and the hurricane season has just begun.

Caught in a catch-22

Houston, like all of us, is caught in a catch-22. It needs appropriate infrastructure to cope with climate disasters, but the infrastructure itself can help to trigger more disasters.

Houston’s power failure was the second in two months.

By Friday, July 12, 820,000 sweltering customers of CenterPoint Energy, the city’s main electricity and natural gas provider, were still without power.

Officials were urging Houstonians not to threaten violence against utility workers trying to restore service.

Burning coal to keep cool

CenterPoint Energy purchases electricity from various sources before delivering it to Houston and other markets. Most of that electricity is generated using coal, creating both carbon dioxide and particulate pollution. It also reported US$867 million in profits for 2023.

Texas deregulated its energy industry about 20 years ago. Before that, a public utility had supplied Houston’s electricity needs, and was obliged to put all its profits back into maintaining and improving the system. Privatized CenterPoint distributes its profits to shareholders.

Politicians often find that power utilities, like public health, lack political benefit. When public health works, nothing happens and we take our health for granted. When utilities work, water flows, lights go on and we take them for granted too. And of course utilities are expensive; better to hand them over to the private sector, which may cost more but not in taxes.

Then, when private utilities fail, governments can damn and blast them in chorus with the frustrated voters. Investigations will follow. Wrists will be slapped, golden handshakes postponed. Let the next government solve the problem, if it thinks it can.

We do things differently in B.C., but we still face the same underlying problems that Texas does.

Why Houston’s disaster should alert us in BC

Here in British Columbia, the BC Hydro and Power Authority is a Crown corporation with a very different mandate: “to safely provide our customers with reliable, affordable, clean electricity.” Over 90 per cent of the electricity it delivers is from renewable hydroelectric generation, with most of the rest derived from wind, solar and biomass.

But Houston reminds us that our energy infrastructure is still not ready for climate disasters, whether in the form of fire, flood, heat or cold.

We got a local warning with the heat dome of June 2021. According to the Canada Energy Regulator, Western Canada saw extraordinary demand for electricity during the heat dome. Hundreds of power outages occurred all over B.C.

But as high as demand was in B.C., it was even higher in Alberta, despite its smaller population, because electricity drives the oil and gas sector. Oil and gas, in turn, make up a quarter of Alberta’s CO2 emissions.

A long-term problem is the continued growth in demand for space cooling. The International Energy Agency hints at new technologies that will improve efficiency, but even a new air conditioning unit in every household will be a long time coming — and building millions more air conditioners will generate still more emissions and create still more demand for power.

Competing with Big Tech

And as we crank up the AC every summer, we’ll be competing for electricity with some heavy hitters.

In 2023, Microsoft and Google each consumed 24 terawatt hours of electricity, more than entire countries like Ghana and the Dominican Republic. (Canada consumed over 636 terawatt hours in 2022.)

Bitcoin mining is estimated to have consumed almost one per cent of global electricity demand in 2023. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts overall American demand for electricity could increase by up to 15 per cent by 2050, largely due to new industrial sites and data centres, especially those providing artificial intelligence services.

Sixty per cent of the electricity to power (and cool) those centres is created with natural gas, adding to CO2 emissions.

The Electric Power Research Institute in Washington, D.C., this spring estimated that data centres will consume nine per cent of U.S. electrical power generation by 2030.

(On the brighter side, AI may find ways to improve electrical efficiency and reduce demand, and Japan is already using AI-enhanced air conditioners that reportedly save energy and even adjust the temperature to suit the user’s mood.)

Look to the mini-grid

So those of us who just want cooler homes, workplaces and classrooms will be up against the tech giants and our own governments.

The sheer size of most electrical grids keeps prices down and permits power to be shifted across great distances. But when grids break down, they can leave millions sweltering in the dark.

It’s wise to build for economies of scale, until it isn’t. Our present backup systems consist largely of generators, especially for hospitals and supermarkets. They’re OK, until they run out of gas.

A better system for B.C. and Alberta, at least, might be solar-powered mini-grids that could power hospitals and other public facilities as well as poor neighbourhoods where air conditioning is rare.

Like big systems, mini-grids would be expensive — but a lot cheaper than trying to cope without them in a heat crisis.

But that would be a solution to just one part of our ongoing polycrisis. Flooding, for example, could damage not just power systems but water, sewage, transport and communications.

Our politicians squabble about carbon taxes, affordable housing and spending more on national defence. But we are long past the point when buying an electric vehicle or a heat pump will solve Canada’s climate problems. Building prefab homes is pointless if they’ll be ruined in the next fire, flood or ice storm.

A more realistic course would be to retrofit as much of our present infrastructure as we can, climate-proofing homes, public services and critical businesses. Part of the retrofits would be installation of local solar and wind power facilities that could kick in when needed. We would also have to rebuild our water and sewer systems, and replace petroleum-based construction materials (like vinyl siding) with less flammable products.

Of course it would be expensive. But preparing Houston and its grid for Beryl would have cost a lot less than $30 billion.

Preparing Vancouver and other B.C. communities for climate disasters will always be cheaper than rebuilding from the ruins.