AE-CAES stores energy by adsorbing compressed air in zeolite minerals: the air is adsorbed by cooling the zeolite to deep-freeze temperatures, and released by heating it to near-boiling. It is safe since adsorbed air cannot be released explosively, green since it requires no hazardous materials, and cheap since all components and materials are widely available. These features make it ideally suited for energy management in distributed microgrids.