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   Nia Skywalker :coffefied: (chaotin@corteximplant.com)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 01:51:47 JST Nia Skywalker :coffefied:

   This reads like the beginning of a Lovecraft horror story… https://mastodon.social/@jwz/112758405062424364

   • Embed this notice
     Sick Sun (sun@shitposter.world)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 01:51:45 JST Sick Sun

     in reply to

     • Syn-(h)ACK
     @SynAck @chaotin you don’t need hackers, they’ll have big transformers outside you can shoot with a high power rifle if you want to risk a federal felony.
   • Embed this notice
     Syn-(h)ACK (synack@corteximplant.com)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 01:51:46 JST Syn-(h)ACK

     in reply to

     @chaotin Well, Granville, TX, is right in the path of Tropical Storm Beryl, which has been pounding the Texas coastline and is reportedly responsible for the internet outages across the state yesterday. We can only hope that the storm did enough damage to this facility to take it offline.

     Otherwise, I may have to see if I can't rustle up some hacker friends to see if we can somehow knock their power offline.

     It's fuckwads like these that are making our power situation down here even worse, and if I were Governor, I'd come down on that cryptofarm like a sack of bricks. But since our current governor is a Trumpkin, that's never going to happen. :bec_sigh:

   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@bikeshed.party)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 03:09:56 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Syn-(h)ACK
     @SynAck bulk power customers always get cheaper rates and will always be given priority over residential customers. It's just the way it is everywhere.
     
     One thing to be mindful of is that often crypto miners end up building out smaller facilities near wind/solar farms so they can buy the energy not being delivered to the grid. It's not uncommon for there to be a new green energy deployment that can produce X megawatts but the existing transmission lines can not handle that full load, so they deliver a smaller amount to the grid and sell the rest to whoever is nearby.
     
     Should they upgrade the transmission lines? Yes, but it's expensive and takes time.
     
     Without the crypto miners signing bulk energy customer contracts committing to Z megawatts of usage many of these green energy deployments would never happen because the accounting doesn't work.
   • Embed this notice
     Syn-(h)ACK (synack@corteximplant.com)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 03:09:57 JST Syn-(h)ACK

     in reply to

     • feld

     @feld I was not aware of that, so thank you for sharing it with me. I would be interested to know how soon it kicks in before residential customers are asked to conserve.

     But it does still rub me the wrong way that ERCOT will pay them to shut down, and pay them ludicrously more than they actually would have made as a business ($22 million, according to that article). Seems like that money could be better spent being put towards that growth and expansion that you mentioned earlier. It's like those ridiculous farm subsidies where farmers get paid NOT to produce certain crops.

     And that's just ONE business. How many others is ERCOT subsidizing? Where's MY check to not wash clothes?

     IMO, the whole privatization of the electric grid here in Texas has been a huge mistake, because we can't draw power from the National Grid(s) when we need to without paying massive fees. And now, finding out that this business which makes far, far less than the resources that it consumes cost is now also having a physical effect on surrounding individuals, it seems to me that shutting them down and making all that energy that they consume available to everyone else - primarily individuals - will make the grid more resilient since it's only going to get hotter (and colder) as time moves on, at least for the foreseeable future.

   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@bikeshed.party)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 03:09:58 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Syn-(h)ACK
     @SynAck
     
     > On paper, maybe it's individually not a threat to the grid. But it's certainly not going to be the first thing to be told (or made) to shutdown when the grid IS "running hot" and tenuous.
     
     What the fuck are you even talking about? They have contracts with the grid operator to shutdown when the grid is stressed and they'll get paid for staying offline
     
     https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitcoin-mining-cryptocurrency-riot-texas-power-grid/
   • Embed this notice
     Syn-(h)ACK (synack@corteximplant.com)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 03:09:59 JST Syn-(h)ACK

     in reply to

     • feld

     @feld On paper, maybe it's individually not a threat to the grid. But it's certainly not going to be the first thing to be told (or made) to shutdown when the grid IS "running hot" and tenuous. Plus, ERCOT is all helmed by business people who are out to make money and it's them and the politicians that are dragging their feet to make the improvements that are necessary to ensure more reliable power.

     Instead, they tell individuals to "live with" their houses being 80 degrees inside, not washing clothes or dishes, and limiting other things to "keep the power on".

     Meanwhile, half-empty office buildings light up the night sky like giant beacons of wastefulness and these shitcoin farms keep chuggin' away because, you know, capitalism.

     And now, come to find out, not only are they wasting power that could be used instead to make the lives of average citizens more comfortable but their usage is actually causing physical harm to these people?

     Don't even get me started on Dan Patrick. That's just lip-service and you know it. If they were that concerned, why am I still getting notices to "conserve energy" 4 years down the line from the first big electrical disaster while cryptofarms like this are allowed to keep running?

     Dan-o is also one of the major opponents of renewable energy around here, too.

   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@bikeshed.party)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 03:10:00 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Syn-(h)ACK
     @SynAck @chaotin
     
     > It's fuckwads like these that are making our power situation down here even worse
     
     Why are we listening to politicians and not ERCOT? If ERCOT believed the miners were a threat to the grid they wouldn't serve them. I've worked for a power utility before and you don't just give power to a bulk customer without doing the math.
     
     ERCOT is saying "we need to grow/expand to keep up with projected growth", not "omg we're gonna crash the grid"
     
     Additionally:
     
     > In a post on X, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote that these two industries "produce very few jobs compared to the incredible demands they place on our grid" and that the Texas Senate would be taking a closer look.
     "I’m more interested in building the grid to service customers in their homes, apartments, and normal businesses and keeping costs as low as possible for them instead of for very niche industries that have massive power demands and produce few jobs," he wrote.
     
     Strong doubt that Dan wants ERCOT to be regulated again.
   • Embed this notice
     pistolero (p@fsebugoutzone.org)'s status on Thursday, 11-Jul-2024 03:15:34 JST pistolero

     in reply to

     • Syn-(h)ACK
     • Sick Sun
     @sun @SynAck @chaotin
     badass.jpe
     Sick Sun likes this.