As we watched the state of Texas be without electricity for days during a recent series of storms that brought freezing weather, it raises the question, do you need a whole house generator? And, the answer is maybe. If you live in a state with extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold and or one that regularly experiences hurricanes, tornadoes, major storms, earthquakes and black out's like California, then maybe spending $10,000 for a whole house natural gas generator makes sense.
What we learned from the Texas experience is that renewable energy depending on solar and or wind helped cause the crisis. When the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow, then states better have natural gas or nuclear power plants to generate electricity. In the case of Texas, the wind did blow with a 20 below zero wind chill factor that actually froze up the wind turbines so they could not generate power. It is very clear from all of this that we need an all of the above energy strategy that includes oil, natural gas, nuclear, clean coal and renewables. We need to make all sources of energy cleaner, safer and cheaper to maintain our standard of living.
But back to the generator question. Those people in Texas and other states that lost power who had generators did just fine. It may be that people living in those states most susceptible to power outages should make the investment to purchase a gas power whole house generator because being without power for days is not fun.
