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Of course the insulation part of the equation is a double-edged sword. You want insulation, but you always want air circulation at a rate conducive to low CO2 levels. Maybe a compromise using something like Sheetrock with extra paraffin, and the whole thing painted Anti-flash white, with air exchange passed through heat exchangers underground.

It would be pretty expensive to maintain though.

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In modern homes air tightness and mechanical ventilation are both required by code in many places to deal with the issues you've raised.

Even a crappy insulated house has some thermal lag. Which is what you are playing with.

I think people get confused because a low carbon grid is going to have a different pricing structure than the current one where 'base load' power is cheap at night. The reverse will be true. Power in the evening is going to be spensive. With the cheapest power at noon.

The solution is to time shift demand. A lot of demand can be time shifted. HVAC can be time shifted using thermal lag and storage. You don't really need batteries for that.

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