But with the EUs privacy laws, I am less concerned about it. But that's customs, not security. I still had the usual security check, though they don't check your ID there.
If all the custom agent does is compare your face to the ID, this is an okay (though imperfect) replacement I think

Where I ran into these (leaving Germany,entering UK), they were the only customs check I went through, so it made the whole process a whole lot faster and easier (compared to entering Germany, where even the computer of the customs agents was broken, so it took ages). I'm not a big fan of it usually

Solar panels have an efficiency of ~<30%, so 1W elec = 2W thermal. So as long as your heat pump has an eff factor over 2, which is almost a given, yes. Plenty of excess even. Though thats only direct radiation heating, not anything from the hot air that day.
And sometimes there is hot cloudy days.

I feel this is quite close to why I like Deep Space Nine (and Voyager) over new Star Trek. I feel New Trek points out how human it is to compromise your ideals, while DS9 highlights the importance of sticking to your ideals, even when its hard.
Favorite quote "Its easy to be a saint in paradise"

Yes, they more or less are. Depending on the exact method used, they probably give you what is most correlated with *seeming* correct to a query. They are inherently automated confirmation bias.
I am kinda concerned of the future where it becomes very hard to tell truth from fiction.