[newtonsfirstlaw]

I think with most of our lives there is at least the potential to reduce usage of things by an order of magnitude. But doing so requires a lot of attention to detail, a lot of little changes.

I keep thinking that I should build my own house and put a water tank right in the center of it to use as a big thermal mass, while insulating the rest of the house. Maybe burying another tank deep in the ground and pumping between the two would be all that's needed to cool the house, otherwise you could just pump air through the house on cool days or nights to cool down the thermal mass.

It's very, very analogous to pulse and glide. Or, a bit like pulse and glide but adding a big lead weight in the car that had no additional effect on rolling resistance.

The insulation is lowering the drag coefficient, which halts energy loss. The thermal mass is like the lead weight that makes the car coast forever.

The other thing I must do is buy some insulation and make outside panels for the fridge or freezer.

Fridges/freezers are designed so screwed up from the point of view of efficiency. If they were designed correctly, the condenser would be outside the house, or at least on top of the fridge somewhere. And there would be a crapload of insulation, say 6-12 inches thick. And then they'd use next to no electricity.