Texas snowstormWhat would it have been like in a GEMINI next generation home during the major power outage and cold snap in Texas February 2021 ?
Where is Texas, anyway? It starts in the north at the 36th parallel and extends south to the 26th parallel. Malaga in southern Spain is also at the 36th parallel, which is southernmost Europe, which is northernmost Texas. As a typical example of last week's weather event, let's take Austin. That's on the 30th parallel, just like Cairo. Here is the weather chart from February 7 to 13. On February 8, the temperature fluctuated between 6°and 24°. The high temperature difference between day and night is typical for continental climate. From this day it became colder. Here is the weather chart from February 14 to 20. on February 16, the lowest daytime highs here were -4° C, and on February 18, the coldest night was -18°. On February 12, Austin had 13 mm of snow and 40 km/h winds.
In 2000, I had the first heated discussion about the designation of houses in the USA. A man from Florida was whining about 35,000 kWh electricity consumption of his villa. I explained to him that the high electricity consumption for the air conditioning system could only be explained by extremely poor thermal insulation and that his house should therefore be classified as a shack. Then there was the house owner in Alaska, who heats directly with electricity and was proud of 5 cm of thermal insulation. A hydroelectric power plant there almost had to give away the electricity because a high-voltage line to densely populated areas was simply too expensive. I have been living in a rented apartment in St. Leonhard, built in 1995, since September 2000. Just when it was particularly cold there were failures of the heating. Thanks to the high minimum requirements for thermal insulation in the province of Salzburg, which already existed in 1995, this was uncomfortable, but not at all dramatic. I estimate the thermal insulation at u=0.2 to u=0.25. A barrack with u=1, which is almost not insulated, cools down 4 times faster.
Let's assume an even more dramatic case. Power failure from February 12 without interruption until February 20. The customer simply couldn't be sold a roof wiper, he just said "Roof wiper?!? Are you guys totally nuts? When is it supposed to snow in Austin?". Well, he was kind of right, there was only 1/2 inch, or 13 mm of snow on February 12. 
This is the solar yield forecast for 30 kW horizontal photovoltaic in Austin Texas. Although the house has an east-west roof, another 6 kW on garage or carport, this is simplified here to 30 kW horizontal. There the yield difference between summer and December is clearly smaller than in Central Europe. The sun is 18° higher above the horizon at noon than at the 48th degree of latitude. For February, the forecast is 2,478 kWh. I assume this forecast must be divided over 28.25 days of an average February. 88 kWh for an average February day. But what about a very cloudy day where there is also 13 mm of snow on the photovoltaic? I think, 22 kWh are there also still drinn. Then the question is how quickly the snow disappears again. With the first weather forecasts of an extreme cold wave, the house would have started to fill the 40 m³ low temperature heat accumulator. Therefore, the low-temperature heat storage should have been at 25° on February 12. During the cold wave, it would not have been necessary to charge the low temperature heat storage tank. Thus, during the cold snap, the electricity demand for the heat pump would be very low. In any case, less than 10 kWh per day. After all, it was still quite warm on February 8. The water pipes in the ground should therefore not have been a problem. The only problem was that the water then entered the inadequately insulated houses and froze the water pipes there. So it is very likely that a "GEMINI next generation" house would have had water. 200 l of hot water is equivalent to 20 minutes of showering at 10 l/min. For this I estimate less than 2 kWh of electricity. Thus, the estimate on February 12 would be 10 kWh space heating, 2 kWh hot water, 5 kWh household electricity. 19 es average February daily yield would have been enough for this. Quite likely that this would have been achieved despite heavy cloud cover and 13 mm of snow. If not, there is still the minimum equipment with 42 kWh LiFePo4 batteries. Once the snow is gone, even dense cloud cover would not have been a problem to charge even the electric car. 20 kWh power surplus after household consumption as an assumption. Perhaps the "GEMINI next generation" homeowner would have been kind enough to set up an emergency sleeping area in the living room for a dozen half-frozen neighbors. The body heat would have significantly reduced the amount of electricity needed for space heating. The next day, the demonstration of how to use heat pumps to produce 1500 l of hot water for showers when the power grid is down.
On Friday I was able to pick up the 3rd heat pumps from a shipping company in Elixhausen. Other orders necessary for the tests are not expected for another 2 months. Then the tests can start.
It's about much more than renewable energy. It's about a stable society. It's about much more than a stable society for a few generations. It is about a stable society for many billions of years. Infinitism is this philosophy to create a stable society and as a united humanity to tackle projects that are totally unimaginable to 99 he people today, but a necessity for a lasting civilization. GEMINI next Generation is an essential part of demonstrating basic elements of a stable society.
All the scenarios where it is sufficient to reduce emissions to zero are becoming increasingly implausible. Thawing permafrost and outgassing methane hydrate pose an enormous potential threat to climate development. A little reduction will not be enough. Even 100% less CO2 emission might still be too little. 200% less, i.e. no further human CO2 emission plus active reduction by filtering and cracking, should be sufficient. But this filtering of CO2 from the atmosphere and cracking in C and O is an enormous effort that only a wealthy humanity with an industrial base completely based on renewable energy can manage. Therefore saving restricting renouncing is life-threatening for mankind.
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