Chron.com’s Post

Tilman Fertitta's hotel, the Westin Houston Downtown, will undergo a $3 million renovation. The hotel near Minute Maid Park will undergo renovations to the lobby, office spaces, and the fitness center on the first floor per a Landry's representative. Read more, from Janet Miranda. https://lnkd.in/gAP8pGAw

The latest round of power outages in the wake of Hurricane Beryl—which in some cases are still ongoing—have crippled Houston's food-and-beverage industry. Some operators have resorted to parking lot pop-ups and other quick fixes to be able to pay their rent and staff members. Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee is taking matters into his own hands. On Monday, and on Instagram, Buzbee announced that his law firm is in the process of filing a class action lawsuit against CenterPoint Energy on behalf of a number of Houston restaurants. Buzbee claimed that the utility provider has failed repeatedly "to do what any reasonable and competent electricity provider would do and should do." Read the full story, by Timothy Malcolm, below. https://lnkd.in/g5rVfpkB

#Question: Engineers, techies, or anyone who enjoys organizing information, CenterPoint in Houston just released a new outage map that is angering residents. How would you fix it? One new bobble to emerge from CenterPoint in the days since Beryl's landfall is a restoration map featuring color-coded repair statuses for addresses across the Houston metro. First launching Tuesday night, the map included three color-coded statuses for customers: "energized" (lime), "assigned for repair" (lavender) and "assessments in progress" (tangerine). The widget also featured a five-point restoration process beginning with impact evaluation and progressing to neighborhood and street infrastructure repair.  As of Thursday, however, the map has been retooled to feature four color-coded circuit statuses: "energized" (forest green), "partially energized" (lime green), "assessment complete" (turquoise) and "assessment in progress" (tangerine). The updated restoration map page also features a new disclaimer about "nested outages" in areas marked "energized." More on the outage tracker here: https://lnkd.in/gPhitM2x #Engineer #Technology #WebDesigner #Innovation #Tech #Developer #Software

One year ago, Texas received $60.6 million from the federal government to strengthen the power grid against extreme weather. Flash forward one year later, over 1 million CenterPoint customers remain without power days after Hurricane Beryl—down from 2.26 million at its zenith on Monday. Grid resilience has been a top concern for Texans since the 2021 winter storm forced power grid operators to call for electricity cuts for millions in the state. Texas legislators required power generators to prepare their equipment better for extreme weather, but recent storms have shown the transmission system's ongoing vulnerability. Unlike past power failures, Houstonians did not lose power because demand outpaced the Texas grid's capacity, but because of blown transformers and the good old-fashioned rivalry between falling trees and aboveground power lines. Some, including Houston city councilmember Abbie Kamin, have called on the city to bury more power lines as a result, as cities such as Colorado Springs and Anaheim, California have done in response to their own extreme weather events. Buried power lines have an aesthetic benefit as well, although that has never been much of a motivating factor for Houston. Can Houston bury its power lines? That's complicated: https://lnkd.in/gR5xDe-z A new timeline issued by CenterPoint Energy on Wednesday night will do little to abate concerns from increasingly restive Houston-area residents waiting for power to be restored in Hurricane Beryl's wake. The energy provider blamed extreme weather in Southeast Texas over the last 3 years for frustrating power restoration efforts. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gDHzNJvY

Sometimes, people turn to the least expected places to find the information they need.

⚡ Why can't Houston just bury its power lines? After Hurricane Beryl ravaged Houston and left over 2 million residents without power Monday, the city began to play a familiar song and dance with the energy provider, CenterPoint, slowly and incrementally interfacing with the company to restore downed power lines while residents endured a citywide heat advisory. The hurricane, only a Category 1, left many wondering how Houston, with all its power, could not keep on its own lights. Unlike past power failures, Houstonians did not lose power because demand outpaced the Texas grid's capacity, but because of blown transformers and the good old-fashioned rivalry between falling trees and aboveground power lines. Some, including Houston city councilmember Abbie Kamin, have called on the city to bury more power lines as a result, as cities such as Colorado Springs and Anaheim, California have done in response to their own extreme weather events. Buried power lines have an aesthetic benefit as well, although that has never been much of a motivating factor for Houston. But is that doable in Houston? Read here: https://lnkd.in/gR5xDe-z