How the tough Texas winter uncovered issues with the US energy grid

Texas had a rough winter in 2021.

In mid-February, when temperatures dropped in the single digits, demand for electricity hit a record high across Texas. The supply was running low, causing the state’s utility operator to introduce rolling blackouts. At the height of the crisis, more than 4.5 million customers lost electricity. The unusual winter storm caused neighboring states like Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas to also impose rolling power outages.

Texas residents shivered from the cold as the outages lasted for days. You have lost access to water. Some turned their cars on in their garages to keep warm and then died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The historic collapse was a wake-up call – if the Texas power grid was so fragile, what about the rest of the United States? According to Climate Central, the US has seen weather-related blackouts have increased by 67% since 2000. Part of the problem is aging infrastructure. Most of today’s power grid was built in the 1950s and 1960s with the hope that it would take 50 years.

Check out the video above to find out what happened in the Texas power outage and how it’s a warning sign on the US power grid.