as the backlash if they don't respect the setting would be huge.

The backlash from me would be to use the Go Off-Grid option during the emergency, after which I'd switch to a different electricity provider.

I participate in Tesla Electric's Virtual Power Plant in Texas. It's similar to this pilot program in Massachusetts, it just uses my Powerwall instead of my Model 3's battery to help out the grid in periods of high demand.

In Tesla app there is a slider for the Powerwall called Backup Reserve. It controls how much of the Powerwall is reserved for home backup, the remainder can be used for the Virtual Power Plant. It defaults to 20%, I bumped mine up to 30%.

I would expect to see a similar option for EV to Grid.

They're trying to make DRM part of the transition to ATSC 3.0. I've been using SiliconDust HDHomeRun network tuners since 2013 and now have a couple of their 4K units that support ATSC 3.0 Here in Houston the 3.0 broadcasts for KHOU (CBS) and KTMD (Telemundo) now have DRM. This is what I see if I attempt to watch those broadcasts.

This has also been causing problems with TVs with build in 3.0 tuners, so it's not just a problem with networked tuners like the HDHomeRun - ATSC 3.0 TV Sets Won’t Decode DRM Encrypted Channels

When introduced:

Betamax - 250 lines of horizontal resolution, 1 hour per tape

VHS - 240 lines of horizontal resolution, 2 hours per tape

For most the significantly longer recording time of VHS, over the slightly better picture quality of Betamax, was the deciding feature. Later updates to both formats increased recording time at the expensive of picture quality, though it wasn't soon enough for Betamax.

Maybe, but based on the responses seen here on Slashdot, ABC's coverage is fanning a political conflict despite the US fairing significantly better than our immediate neighbors during the current global outbreak of measles.

From Ten countries in the Americas report measles outbreaks in 2025 we can see that Mexico and Canada already had more cases back in August than the US does now at the end of the year despite them having much smaller populations than the US.

Countries with the highest case numbers include Canada (4,548 cases), Mexico (3,911 cases), and the United States (1,356 cases).

I find it interesting that ABC chose not to mention this pertinent information, makes me wonder what other news they're suppressing.

When I got my first Model 3 in 2018 charging at Hotels was free. That's changed over the past few years. I don't mind as long as it's reasonable, such as I've charged at this Fairfield Inn in Corpus Christi for $0.25/kWh. Superchargers are about 30% more expensive.

I noticed a couple years ago that Apartments.com added a filter for EV Charging. Right now for Houston there are 54,474 units available of which 8,407 have EV charging.

So 15.4% of them have EV charging, which exceeds the 6% market share that EVs have in Texas.

I consolidated ERCOT's Fuel Mix Reports for 2007 thru 2024 to see what's happening with our power grid in Texas.

What I noticed was power generation via Fossil Fuels is fairly steady, though Natural Gas has been replacing Coal, while Renewables (Wind & Solar, not much hydro here) have expanded to meet the growth in demand.

Can see my graph in this tweet.

Can access my spreadsheet here on iCloud, enter anything for name (such as nada) when prompted.

I'm also starting to see storage in action, as seen in the screenshot here it's helping supply power twice a day. Our wind power peaks overnight when demand is low, so in the morning the batteries supply stored wind power to help with the increase in demand when people get up. And in the evenings the batteries supply stored solar power to help with the increase in demand that occurs as people get home.

The above screenshot's from ERCOT's Dashboards page. Can also use the direct link to just the Fuel Mix dashboard. If you mouse-over the color labels at the bottom, such as the Maroon dot and Power Storage text, the other colors in the graph will fade out to make it easier to see the fuel source you're interested in.

We've been investing in our grid as well: $7 Billion Wind Power Project Nears Finish

By the end of December[2013], developers expect to flip the switch on the final electrical transmission projects built under the state’s Competitive Renewable Energy Zone, or CREZ, initiative — the years long effort to connect windy, largely secluded West Texas to growing cities that demand more power.

Once finished, the build-out will stretch nearly 3,600 miles and will be able to send 18,500 megawatts of wind power across the state....

...Texans will eventually shell out $6.8 billion to finance the entire build-out, according to a project update released this week by the PUC ...

The new fees, Hadley said, will likely add several dollars to a residential customer’s monthly bill.

Haven't seen anything about jet engines, though I know last year we built out solar & storage: New report shows Texas led nation in solar and battery growth in 2024. A couple weeks ago I noticed storage was supporting our grid twice a day, previously I'd only see it helping in the evenings.

We've likewise deployed smart meters, I think mine was installed in 2013. CenterPoint Energy Reaches Significant Milestone in Smart Meter Deployment

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric's five-year smart meter deployment began in March 2009. By the end of the year, 145,000 smart meters will be installed along with the necessary communications infrastructure and computing systems. 2.4 million meters are expected to be installed system-wide by the project's completion in 2014.

And I live in Texas where solar + wind provided 34% of our electricity last year (ERCOT Fuel Mix report for 2024), which is higher than the US average of 21.4% for renewables(Electricity generation, capacity, and sales in the United States). Despite that, our prices in Texas are lower than the US average.

This suggests its not the renewables themselves that are causing the prices to go up, but something else. By looking at other US states that generate large amounts of wind and/or solar power that something else appears to be political.

I agree its a good investment - I installed solar + PowerWall in 2019. To date it's generated 86% of my electricity, which includes charging my Model 3 (I got my first one in 2018, and my second one in 2024).

Where wind power is harnessed shows that the top 5 states for wind power are: Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois.

Where solar is found and used shows the top states for solar power are: California, Texas, Florida, and North Carolina (the 4 dark orange states in utility scale map).

Per here the average electric rate in the US is 15.83 cents/kWh.

The 6 Republican states have a rate lower than that: Florida 13.44, Iowa 14.45, Kansas 13.36, North Carolina 12.30, Oklahoma 12.15, Texas 12.27.

The 2 Democratic states have a rate higher than that: California 30.45, Illinois 16.02

This suggests politics may be a bigger factor for high electrical rates than renewables.

It even supports 50 Hz for media I've imported from Europe, it's nice not having the 50 to 60 Hz conversion judder during scene pans I experienced with my prior setup. I posted some screenshots here.

I'm not taking a trip like Wisconsin or Yellowstone every month, just once or twice a year. My folks are retired so they do take more trips than I. Our weekend trips are around Texas, a couple weekends ago we did the Texas Triangle. Friday after I got off work we drove* to Bandera (just west of San Antonio) for my aunt's birthday. Saturday evening we drove to Dallas for the Sunday afternoon Honor Flight pre-flight meeting for my dad (a Vietnam veteran). Sunday evening after the meeting we drove back to Houston.

Charging is now so prolific, and fast** that the majority of our stops are:

1) plug in
2) go use restrooms
3) unplug
4) resume trip

which is faster than getting gas as nobody needed to stand next to the car to monitor the refueling process. On occasion we need to wait 5 minutes or so for the car to be ready, which makes those stops comparable to getting gasoline. On the drive to Dallas we stopped at the largest Supercharger site in Texas. It's located at the Buc-ee's in Temple and has 68 stalls.

* the car did most of the driving. FSD has gotten quite good in the past year, I seldom used it prior to Tesla's 2024 Xmas Update as the prior builds were unnerving at times.

** in 2018 Tesla's Superchargers maxed out at 120 kW and we often had to do the slow-charge to 100% (charging from 80-100% takes the same amount of time as 0-80%, so during trips so you only charge to 100% if absolutely necessary as otherwise you're wasting time). With the widespread rollout of V3 Superchargers most of my charging now is at 250 kW, the older Superchargers were bumped to 150 kW, and I no longer need to do the slow-charge to 100%. The latest V4 Superchargers go even faster, but at the moment only the Cybertruck can accept the 500 kW it offers (on V4 Superchargers we'll still max out at 250 kW in our Model 3 and Model Y).

I have freedom to travel - been road tripped all over the US since getting my 1st Model 3 in 2018. My folks enjoyed the trips they'd taken with me so much that they bought a Model Y. We typically take a 2700 mile round trip each year to visit family in Wisconsin. We took my folks' Model Y on our longest trip so far: 5000 miles to Yellowstone, onto Tacoma Washington to visit family, then back to Houston.

I also have energy freedom - 99% of my charging is now done via the solar panels on my roof by using Tesla's Charge on Solar feature that was added in 2023. Do you distill your own gasoline?