There are cooling systems that freeze a tank of water at night when power is cheap and run the A/C system though it during the day. I’m not sure how effective it is though.

Here in Chicago we cool entire banks of skyscrapers using that method. It's very effective.

https://enwavechicago.com/how-district-cooling-works/system-...

It’s called an “ice bear”, and is actually very effective at the level of an individual home.

I don’t know why more people don’t install them here in Texas.

Pre-cooling your house at 3 in the Texas summer will last until about 3:30 at the latest.

Sounds like Texas needs better insulation standards for their housing.

That's particularly frustrating, because effective building techniques for keeping houses cool in hot climates have existed for millennia.

The problem is all those ancient tech items require long term thinking, such as shade trees, masonry, insulation, subterranean, etc... This sounds more like a cultural shift from cheap and fast stick-built: they're spoiled by that mentality but paying the price now.

Yeah, but I don't want to do this: The town where people live underground: Welcome to Coober Pedy [1]. :(

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFA-OB-nJ_I

No one said you have to go anywhere near that far.

Thicker, solid walls with more thermal mass that soak up the overnight cool to release throughout the day. Better insulation and air sealing. Trees, roof overhangs, and shade cladding to prevent direct sunlight from hitting the house.

"Just add a bigger AC" has been the approach for far too long, and it's not sustainable.

Overnight low of 81° F in Houston tonight, and it probably doesn't get that cool until 2 am or so. There's no overnight cool to soak up. It's also super humid just to cooling more challenging.

Sure, there will always be some nights in the height of summer where you want some AC. The goal isn't total elimination; it's reduction.

Running AC in the dark night to cool that thermal mass will benefit during the day. Using some energy, but substantially less and at non-peak times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Houston indicates 81 is above the average... and again, thick walls aren't the only available approach. Any approach will involve a collection of different tweaks.

The production cost of peak solar is probably a tenth of the cost for a gas peaker. You'd really have thought in a rational market there would be enough value there for people either getting a distinct thermal storage option or good enough insulation to make precooling work.