Texas Grid Breaks Record Second Day In A Row; Grid Holds -- August 6, 2015; Maybe That War On Coal Was A Bit Hasty

FuelFix is reporting:

Texas power users broke a record for the second time in two days this week after electric demand peaked at 68,912 megawatts on Thursday between 4 and 5 p.m. See yesterday's report here. 

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the state’s electric grid, said the preliminary estimate for power demand during that hour was the highest it has ever recorded. Thursday’s peak was just ahead of the record set on Wednesday, when demand registered 68,538 megawatts.

From yesterday's' report:

The Texas grid reached 68,459 megawatts within the record 60-minute time frame, which exceeded the previous Aug. 3, 2011 record of 68,305 megawatts.

Texas better start building those solar farms and wind turbines farms post-haste.

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Obama's Unintended Consequences

Is it possible President Obama's war on coal in the United States has had a most unexpected, unintended consequence? IBD is reporting:

At the very moment President Obama has decided to shutter America's coal industry in favor of much more expensive and less efficient "renewable energy," coal use is surging across the globe.

A new study by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences detects an unmistakable "coal renaissance" under way that shows this mineral of fossilized carbon has again become "the most important source of energy-related emissions on the global scale."

Coal is expanding rapidly "not only in China and India but also across a broad range of developing countries — especially poor, fast-growing countries mainly in Asia," the study finds.

Why is coal such a popular energy source now? The NAS study explains that many nations are attracted to "(relatively) low coal prices . .. to satisfy their energy needs."

It also finds "the share of coal in the energy mix indeed has grown faster for countries with higher economic growth."

In sum, using coal is a stepping stone to prosperity. So much for it being a satanic energy source.

Regular readers are well aware of the amount of energy India and China need. I had forgotten about the "poor, fast growing countries mainly in Asia."

The unintended consequence (rapid rise for coal demand outside of the US) was precisely because President Obama had nothing to offer those countries who might have otherwise given up coal. US exports of natural gas and oil would not have solved all the problems, but it might have helped stem the use of coal globally, but alas, President Obama was unable to see that.

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Iowa's ObamaCare Co-Op Won't Be The Last (To Fail)

President Obama's legacy won't end with his failure to stem the use of coal worldwide. It will extend to ObamaCare. This is also from IBD. This is not a crackpot, right-wing publication. It has a reputation for unbiased, "bottom-line" reporting:

Bankruptcy: A court filing this week shows that the first ObamaCare-created insurance co-op to fail will likely cost $147 million. How many more will have to go under before President Obama admits to this boondoggle?

A few years ago, the idea of nonprofit co-ops was music to ObamaCare advocates' ears.

Freed from the need to deliver profits to investors, these nonprofits would provide competition and choice to the individual market. That was the theory, anyway.

And there were few places better suited to the success of this concept than Iowa and Nebraska, states that had little competition, where uninsured rates were high and businesses were dropping coverage.

So with millions in federal low-interest startup loans, CoOpportunity was one of the first ObamaCare co-ops to get off the ground.

It was also the first to fail.

The Iowa government took it over in late 2014 and shut it down entirely a few months later.

In his most recent liquidation status report filed with the Iowa District Court in Polk County, Daniel Watkins shows why. As of June, CoOpportunity had $282.4 million in liabilities and just $108.7 million in assets. Among those liabilities is the $147 million CoOpportunity in federal startup and solvency loans that it's unlikely ever to pay back.

These losses came despite the fact that CoOpportunity had far more sign-ups than it had expected.

As far as ObamaCare failures go, CoOpportunity might be the first, but won't be the last.

By the way, this was absolutely predictable and posted several times on this blog when ObamaCare was first being voted upon. The early adopters of ObamaCare paid very little in premiums and being the most chronically ill (AIDS, cancer, mental health issues) used medical resources far in excess of what their premiums covered. 

I assume Iowans are well aware of this story, and they will still vote for Hillary in 2016.

The Proudest, Loneliest Fool I Know, Charlie Rich