Is 3D printing an enviromental win?

http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/07/19/3d-printing-environmental-win


This article compares the environmental advantages and disadvantages to 3-D printers verses conventional mill production. Right away it debunks the myth that 3-D printers have zero waste, in fact forty five percent of the ink from an ink jet 3-D printer is wasted and that ink is unable to be recycled. The problem that arose when creating this experiment was isolating the different variables and comparing all factors of how the mill and printer impacted the environment. When it comes to the waste of product the mill is inefficient compared to the 3-D printers especially the FDM; this is because with the mill a computer cuts off the unwanted material to form the object; while the 3-D printer makes it from scratch. Injection molding, however, wasted the least amount of material, because it injects the plastic directly into the mold. The energy involved in creating the object was measured and the conclusion was that the operator controlled how much energy was wasted more than the design of the actual machines, if fact the machines utilized more energy when just running then when creating an object. When the points system was utilized to measure the above factors as well as the environmental impact of the creation of the machines itself it was found that the FDM was the clear winner and the ink jet and the mill where closer competitors. While the mill wasted the most materials the ink jet utilized a much more electricity. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this article and even utilized in an average person’s quest to cut down on his or her environmental footprint is the importance of turning of equipment when finished and conserving as much electricity as possible. As shown with this experiment, the main reason for both the ink-jet and the FDM 3-D printers from matching the environmental standards of injection molding is the electrical waste when not being utilized.