Are 3D Printed LEED Buildings Possible?

In the last few months, we've seen headlines about doctors printing blood vessels with a 3D printer, NASA exploring using a 3D printer to make food in space and contractors printing an entire prefab house.

But why is 3D printing something green builders and LEED professionals keep an eye on?

3D Construction Waste Management

Traditional manufacturing practices generate a considerable amount of waste, both in terms of discarded product and energy consumption. However 3D printing offers a potentially less wasteful approach to construction.

The biggest reason is this: when building materials can be produced on site, as opposed to shipped from somewhere offsite, builders not only reduce the environmental impact associated with having to transport the product, but also reduce any on site materials surplus or waste that may be a byproduct of methods such as custom "stick built" construction.

The cost associated with transportation of the materials to and from the site is almost eliminated as well with large scale 3D printing. This transportation, and associated insurance of materials in transit, makes up a significant portion of the end product’s total cost of development.

When scaled to larger manufacturers, such as the giant Toll Brothers, a leader in residential home construction for large communities with $2 billion in annual revenue, the ability to manufacture products onsite without incurring immense costs could have a noteworthy impact.

There are also applications possible for the reproduction of tools and machinery on site, reducing cost of downtime due to equipment failure. Suppose an important piece of machinery breaks. With a 3D printer, the company could, in theory, recreate a replacement onsite, thereby eliminating the environmental losses associated with having the replacement piece made and shipped there, and also mitigating the myriad financial trickle down effects of the company’s downtime when forced to wait for the piece’s processing.

What’s more, as this article from Forbes describes, the accessibility of these printers is prompting a new wave of manufacturing material innovation.

The tech savvy owners of these gadgets are investigating new composite materials, including those from recycled materials. This curiosity could very well lead to the discovery of some environmentally-friendly alternatives to help alleviate the currently overwhelming reliance on plastic.

There is significant debate on the true economic potential of the 3D printer market. Just last week a report was released from business research firm IDTechEx estimating suggesting that the 3D printing market will blossom to $7 billion by 2025, while a report issued earlier in the year from MarketsandMarkets research group suggested that the market would surpass $8 billion by 2020).

Regardless, the advent of 3D printing opens the doors to a new wave of construction technology that may make it possible for modular LEED certified new construction projects to be designed by anyone on a home computer, and built on site through a third party contractor, saving considerable time, money and materials.