Photo: A street in Wills Point, outside Dallas, during the winter storm in Texas February 13-15.

At 4 a.m. on Monday February 15, everything stopped and then started to cool down. Austin Energy’s text said it had started broadcasting blackouts that would last up to 40 minutes. The minutes turned into hours which turned into days. But we were lucky. In 2011 our house was completely renovated, including energy efficiency investments in insulation and new windows. He never fell below the 50s in our house. People living in older or low-income homes across Texas haven’t been so fortunate.

The effect of blackout at home

A lot of people are talking about what went wrong, how Texas’ deregulated market and lack of proper planning – especially in the face of a changing climate – has failed its citizens. The electricity production and transmission infrastructure should have been altered. In 2015, I worked with others on HB 2571, a Texas House bill introduced by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. The bill would have required state agencies – including the Texas Utilities Commission, which regulates the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s power grid operator – to include the latest climate data in their strategic plans. He was killed on the floor of the house.

The state leadership has resolutely refuse admit that climate change is already wreaking havoc on the state, from droughts to floods, hurricanes to the latest winter storm in Texas. They say they could not have predicted a storm of this magnitude. They also didn’t think Hurricane Harvey would wreak such havoc. The problem is, when the latest climate data is not used to plan for future resource needs, it is not proper planning. Using past climate and weather data for long-term planning is like driving on the highway while looking in the rearview mirror.

But it is at the level of generation and transmission. And in the houses? Long before the winter storm in Texas, the state opposed effective energy efficiency and weather protection policies. It is not the only one either: many states, especially across the Southeast and Midwestern United States don’t prioritize energy efficiency. The Texas Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy 29 in the nation in its latest energy efficiency scorecard, and its relatively high score is based on some state programs primarily targeting commercial and public buildings.

Although it is one of the first states to implement a Energy efficiency resource standard (EERS), Texas is among the lowest targets in the country, despite the highest potential. The balance between a competitive market and consumer protection weighs heavily on the market side, with many consumers literally left behind.

Texas Weatherization for Multi-Family Housing

The US Reinvestment and Salvage Act 2009 triggered the weatherization in the state, including the infusion of a revolving credit fund for public buildings with essential resources. But archaic policies, trade barriers and ineffective marketing have prevented the widespread adoption of energy efficiency in the residential sector, especially multi-family dwellings.

Failure to tackle weatherization improvements for multi-family dwellings is an ongoing problem. This is the classic case of split incentive: it is not the owners of the building who pay the electricity bills. This is made even worse by the fact that in a city like Austin, which has a booming population and a housing shortage, there is never a shortage of tenants who just need a place to live on rent. reasonable. According to U.S. Housing Survey, in 2013 (most recent data), Austin had 184,000 multi-family dwellings, which does not take into account the construction boom it happened later. If the apartments built near my house and downtown are any indication, many of the new builds will be out of reach for people who are struggling to pay their bills.

Photos of people freeze in their apartments during the winter storm in Texas shocked people beyond state borders. But, unfortunately, they weren’t surprising. Energy efficiency is often touted as a luxury addition for environmentally conscious consumers, but it is a necessity, especially in a state that suffers from increasingly extreme weather conditions. After Hurricane Irma hit Florida, tougher code buildings put in place after Hurricane Andrew fared much better than those who were not.

The deregulated Lone Star State market

Energy efficiency seems like a no-brainer, but in Texas’ deregulated market (Austin Energy is a municipal utility and therefore not subject to the competitive market), it often struggles to gain a foothold. Time and time again, energy efficiency proposals presented to Retail Electricity Providers (PWRs), who are the players in electricity facing customers in deregulated areas of the state, are rejected on the grounds that they should pass the costs on to the customer, especially if the initiatives went beyond the very limited programs and available funds provided by the transmission and distribution utilities.

However, there are some issues with this argument. First, although energy efficiency comes with upfront costs, it has a return on investment and these costs can be combined with savings to keep the overall bill the same (or lower). Second, in a deregulated market the priority is profit, and if the business model is put in place to sell more electricity, the more money you make, you discourage people from using less electricity. Several political solutions exist to solve this problem, but it takes a will to implement them. Third, while Texas likes to brag about low energy prices, in deregulated areas of the state the extra charges abound to make those bills unaffordable, and in cases like last week price spikes are driving To outrageous bills. Plus, a more energy-efficient home requires less of the grid, which would have contributed to blackouts during last month’s winter storm in Texas.

After the winter storm in Texas, we can and must do better

No one should freeze in their house or become overheated, as is the most common problem in Texas. Energy efficiency shouldn’t be a luxury, but a necessity, especially for people living in multi-family homes. Low interest loans exist to help homeowners, but they need incentives to undertake them, not at the expense of their tenants. Policies to encourage energy efficiency, both in terms of weatherization and better building codes, will prompt the market to respond, creating jobs as well as more comfortable homes in all weathers.

The February winter storm in Texas should be a wake-up call. Doubling down on the same failed policies will not improve the reliability or resiliency of our network or homes. Investing in energy efficiency is a resilience strategy that reduces carbon emissions and water demand while protecting people in extreme weather conditions. It may not seem as urgent as demanding responses from ERCOT, but it is critically important.

Image Credit: Matthew T Rader /Unsplash