Some Texas homes are building in blackout protection

For Texans hoping to keep the power on in the event of a winter storm, it’s not looking so hot. The Texas grid operator ERCOT is predicting an 80% chance of blackouts if there’s a severe winter storm.

And it turns out, just this week ERCOT’s meteorologist came out to say that winter weather this year is turning out pretty similar to 2021, when a major winter storm took out electricity across the state. But in the event storms do come and outages happen this winter, many Texans are better prepared, and that’s because of what’s on, inside or around their homes. 

Houstonian Mike Dishberger had about had it with blackouts. Last year, he installed solar panels and battery storage. Then Hurricane Beryl knocked out power this summer.

“We got through the whole night with the battery backup,” Dishberger said.

Dishberger is a home builder in Houston and he said that especially after outages last summer, home buyers want their homes to be prepared. 

“They want to know what you’re doing,” Dishberger said. “A lot of my homes after I sell them are getting solar panels now, too.” 

His homes are Energy Star. They’re more efficient and stay hot, or cold, longer in an outage. 

“A lot of people will say, ‘Can you increase the insulation in the attic or maybe between the bedroom floor in the garage below you, possibly?’” Dishberger said.

And in Austin and Dallas, home builder Lennar is partnering with the electricity retailer Base Power to install backup power batteries in new homes.

“For a Lennar customer, a new home buyer here in Texas, especially if they’re moving from out of state, they have this sort of added resiliency that they might not have otherwise had they gone to either another home builder or had bought a home without a backup solution,” said Base Power COO Justin Lopas. 

Base Power installs the battery for free for their electricity customers, and own and operate the battery.

“So, we get access to the battery when the grid up and running to serve the Texas grid, and the homeowner gets access to the battery when the grid goes off,” Lopas said.

While batteries make for great backup power during outages, Mark Kresowik with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is for building to the top efficiency standards. 

“Installing insulation and air sealing can be the difference between life and death for people,” Kresowik said.

A Department of Energy study found that new homes built to 2021 building codes could stay habitable for days longer than older homes. Still, he said, many cities and states haven’t updated their building standards.