Storage of solar power in concrete starts with the collection of heat in solar panels. The heat is then transferred through steel pipes into concrete, which absorbs the heat and stores it until it can be transferred to a generator.
Apparently this is widely done in Europe but not yet here in the States. However Coastal Concrete Homes in Mississippi builds homes out of concrete, using the thermal storage to provide heat.
That’s pretty cool. We live in a brown brick home that captures and stores passive solar energy, greatly reducing our heating and cooling requirements. The idea of linking such a great storage with active technology never occurred to me.
I overheard today that concrete may be adaptable as a CO2 sink [on the community radio in the background so it’ll take a while to backtrack it down, though I think it may have been Howard Zinn].