aerocement

AeroCement

Triple-utility passive solar-thermal concrete system

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What Is AeroCement?

AeroCement is an open-source hardware system that turns ordinary concrete into a multifunctional energy infrastructure material. A single structure provides:

1. Solar-thermal energy capture — Volumetric open-cell blackbody concrete panels absorb ~95-98% of incident solar radiation, heating air drawn through microscopic pores.
2. Underground cooling labyrinth — Heated air transits through an insulated subterranean channel filled with porous concrete, transferring thermal energy to a ground battery for storage.
3. Structural aerated cement — The material itself serves as load-bearing infrastructure, eliminating separate solar panel + storage + building costs.

Key Properties

• Material: AE-GFRC (Aerated Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) with zirconium substitution
• Thermal capture: ~95-98% first-pass absorption
• Storage: Insulated ground battery (multi-night retention)
• Discharge: Stirling engine or thermoelectric generator
• Architecture: Open-loop (breathes ambient air, not sealed)

Performance (Theoretical)

All metrics are from unvalidated simulations. See the GitHub repo for full details.

• Nightly thermal capture: ~12.91 kWh/m2
• 7-night accumulation (10m2): ~82.98 kWh
• Stirling discharge: ~24.89 kWh at 3.11 kW

Open Source

• Documentation & Hardware: CC-BY-SA-4.0
• Code: GPL-3.0
• Copyright: One Human Family

Resources

• GitHub: https://github.com/jesseray718/aerocement
• OpenRoot: https://github.com/jesseray718/openroot
• Zenodo DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21210931
• IPFS: QmcMjnAVN9FbQ77VwMPMCteb93U7W4REdZmZbPqoMBE4F

Contribute

This is an open project. See CONTRIBUTING.md and the issue tracker on GitHub for ways to participate.

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Part of the OpenRoot ecosystem — decentralized permaculture infrastructure for human flourishing.

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