If you mix cement, carbon black with water, the magic of chemistry generates an electron conductive volumetric wire, which permeates a load-bearing cement-based matrix. Herein we show, how this magic of chemistry can be used to build a scalable supercapacitor technology for energy storage, which everyone can build into their homes and roads. Possible applications include the energy autarkic home, self-charging roads (by electromagnetic induction) and intermittent energy storage for wind energy and tidal waves. Availability of cement and carbon black makes this technology a good candidate for the urgently needed energy transition from fossil fuel to renewable energies, which puts us, Civil Engineers, in the driver seat of engineering the energy transition through our built infrastructure, brick-by-brick, road-by-road for all.

Franz-Josef Ulm is Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at MIT. A structural engineer by training he joined MIT in 1999, where he is responsible for Materials and Structures. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering, of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics of the American Society of Civil Engineers.