In partnership with NCDMM, the project is funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering Manufacturing Technology Office and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
environment
Another 3D Company Announces a Sustainability Initiative
It’s gradually becoming the norm to have a sustainability program if you’re in the AM space.
CASTOR Now Measures 3D Printed Part Carbon Emissions
CASTOR announced a unique environmental feature in their powerful part analysis tool.
Salt is the Key To Biodegradable 3D Prints
Researchers have found a method to enable 3D printing of biodegradable polymer objects.
Additive Manufacturing Continues To Go Greener
The Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association now counts more than two dozen member companies across the global 3D printing industry.
Book of the Week: Design for the Real World
This week’s selection is “Design for the Real World” by Victor Papanak.
HP’s Environmentally Friendly Packaging And Production Solution
HP has developed a new and innovative Molded Fiber Advanced Tooling Solution with the intention of delivering lighter, faster, more durable, user-friendly, cost-efficient, customizable, and environmentally friendly packaging.
The Rise Of Sustainability In 3D Printing
There’s a new trend washing over the 3D print industry these days: sustainability. We discuss several aspects and offer a prediction.
Canada To Declare Plastics As “Toxic Substance”: Implications On 3D Printing
Canada is set to declare plastics as a “toxic substance”. What effect could this have on 3D printing?
Philips Hits both Sustainability and 3D Printing Themes at Davos 2020
Charles Goulding reviews 3D printing news from Davos.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing and 3D Printing
Charles Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi look at the portrayal of 3D printing in the ESG market.
MiniFactory Announces Aarni, A Way To See Inside 3D Prints
Is it possible to know what happened inside a completed 3D print? Yes, you can with Minifactory’s Aarni quality control tool.
3D Printing Plant-Based Plastics And The Environment
Charles Goulding and Peter Favata of R&D Tax Savers discuss use of bioplastics in 3D printing.
Now Is the Right Time to Focus on Sustainability in 3D Printing
There’s an old saying, “There’s no time like the present,” and we should be applying that now to foundational growth in 3D printing.
3D Printing Waste Becomes Sustainable Concrete
Sustainability is a major issue in today’s world, and additive manufacturing may be able to help the concrete industry lower CO2 emissions.
Is 3D Printing Green? Could It Be Green?
I’m reading a piece on the greenness of 3D printing and realized there is so much more to the sustainability picture of 3D printing.
A Visual Tour Through AddUp’s 3D Printer Factory Container
The last time we saw AddUp’s modular 3D printing workshop, it was merely a desktop model. Now we managed to walk through a real one.
Biodegradable ABS 3D Printer Filament?
We’re looking at an offering from 3DPrintLife, who now sell a peculiar bio-friendly version of ABS plastic they call “Enviro”.
WillowFlex: Flexible, Friendly Filament
Berlin-based BioInspiration has produced a new flexible 3D printer filament that has an unusual property: it’s compostable.
Can 3D Printing Combat Climate Change?
A piece in The Bulletin proposes that 3D printing could be used to help stop climate change. But is this really possible?
More Evidence of 3D Printing’s Greenness
After our green filament post earlier discussion of 3D printing greenness continued and resulted in a pointer to a document posted by the American Chemical Society that investigates the electricity consumed and CO2 emitted by different manufacturing materials. What exactly did they examine? The embodied energy and emissions from conventional large-scale production in low-labor… Continue reading More Evidence of 3D Printing’s Greenness
The Smells of 3D Printing
Everyone is fascinated by the process of 3D printing. Objects seem to appear (albeit slowly) right out of thin air. Beyond the visual experience, most people also note the sounds of 3D printing, which in today’s 3D printers are much less evident than earlier models. But there’s another experience: smell. While your 3D printer… Continue reading The Smells of 3D Printing
Open Source 3-D Printer Design Competition
Queen’s University and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada are sponsoring a new competition for sustainable development. The competition asks that you “design sustainable technologies and their components for printing on open source 3-D printers”, specifically the RepRap. What exactly is a “sustainable technology”? We’re not sure, because that’s up to… Continue reading Open Source 3-D Printer Design Competition
3D Printing is a Cleantech Innovation
Pike Research, whose tagline is “Cleantech Market Intelligence” posted a report listing “Five Disruptive Cleantech Innovations”. These, we presume, are technologies that should deliver dramatic ecological benefits to future generations as they come online in force later in this century. But what was on the list of five? Energy Harvesting Energy Storage Fuel Cell… Continue reading 3D Printing is a Cleantech Innovation
3D Printed Crabs
No, we’re not talking about pretty little crab toys you can print and hand out to your 8 year old nephew. Instead we’re talking about an innovative project undertaken by one of MakerBot’s artists in residence, Miles Lightwood. The project is concerned with the fate of the lowly Hermit Crab, a crustacean currently facing… Continue reading 3D Printed Crabs
Carbon Credits Required For 3D Makers?
We’re reading a piece on GearFuse that reviews a short video of folks designing and printing some very cool salt and pepper shakers – but they say some things we disagree with: But should we be at least slightly concerned about the way 3D printing seems to make plastic crap safe for hipsters? A… Continue reading Carbon Credits Required For 3D Makers?
Geological 3D Printing
It’s not only geological, it’s also transcontinental! What are we speaking of? It’s an incredible proposal from architectural student Magnus Larsson, whose idea is almost beyond conception. He proposes to use a form of biological 3D printing to create a habitable “green wall” across the entire width of the Sahara desert in order to… Continue reading Geological 3D Printing