After the 2021 Winter Storm, a Texas Homeowner Transformed Their Stone Ranch Into a Solar Powerhouse

A big part of moving into a new house is turning the vision of a previous owner into your own—and for tech analyst Robert Gibby, the answer lay in solar roofing.

Gibby moved to a ranch-style family home in Austin, Texas, in 2020 and immediately began updating the exterior to make the home more efficient, from xeriscaping to reduce irrigation needs, to adding Tesla Powerwall backups, a tankless water heater, and smart home upgrades. The biggest change, however, was the innovative new solar roof by GAF Energy, which features nailable, low-profile solar shingles capable of producing for the energy needs of the home. These sleek solar shingles even create enough electricity to charge Gibby’s electric vehicle, without the obtrusive, boxy-panel look of conventional rack-mounted solar systems that awkwardly bolt onto a roof.

The benefits of switching to solar and battery are well documented—and for Gibby, the ability to maintain power independence was the major driver. "Within 6 months of moving into the house, we experienced Snowmageddon with over a week of snow and freezing temperatures in Austin," he recalls. "We lost water for a week and also lost power for a period of time. This experience, along with the state of the power grid in Texas, went a long way toward expediting moving to a high efficiency setup where we could be off the grid for a period of time if necessary."