Expanding Your 3-D Printing Horizons
Is 3-D concrete printing houses the way of the future? We explore the nuances of it’s potential to disrupt the construction market, carbon footprint, and our guests’ connection to the Great Outdoors.
We also have some killer conversation on how to make Martian concrete! Helicopter pilot & investor James Gray asks the hard questions of Werner Bittner, CEO of Umdasch Group Ventures on this in-depth roundtable about 3-D Construction Printing.
Sponsored by Aspiration Bank & Sustainable Investors Group
Did you know it’s projected that 3 billion people in the next 50–70 years are expected to move from being poor to middle class in this world and they will not only demand better places to live, but start to emit carbon like we do in the West?
Enter: 3D Construction Printing.
Seas to Swim In: 3d Construction Printing Benefits
Affordability: If building codes are adopted, scale is possible as the robot is fast with walls and lumber prices have skyrocketed the past year with no signs of dipping anytime soon.
Sustainability: Built to last vs stick builds. Concrete homes are generational. No waste. Minimise amount of concrete needed vs poured concrete with hollow walls. No plywood forms. Low transportation emissions due to less workers needed on site.
Speed. The Robots can work very fast to make walls. MEP planned in BIM ahead of time and less time on site for skilled trades.
Labor: 2–3 person teams is all that’s needed for walls. Every 30 min or so they stick in some metal reinforcements and walls are erected in 12–24 printing hours for a 200 sq meter home.
Safety: less human injuries due to robot.
Style: Curved lines and textured walls are not significantly more expensive the rectangles, letting a modern and interesting aesthetic be applied to non-luxury properties.
Mountains to Climb: 3d Construction Printing ChallengesMaterial
Mixtures: The so-called Ink for most printers is 3–10 times cost of poured concrete. Often they rely on extra cement which increases the embodied carbon. Many mixtures are proprietary so you don’t even know what’s in it. Can they be locally sourced to reduce transportation costs?
Regulation: Building codes are built in blood and hard to change, but work is being done now and 2022 has big promise to include 3D printed walls as load bearing but for now each building is a special case permit.
Semi-Automation: Currently the robots only can manage walls. Fully autonomous house building is still some time in the future but these companies including Contour Crafting Corporation are not only planning Earth scale construction automation but Martian too. So cool!
Initial Investment: the robot costs 5–800K according to Werner and there may be other robot arm styles that are cheaper, but it doesn’t yet produce a turnkey home. so construction management and skilled trades are needed to coordinate and unlike other products that are automated you really need a lot of coordination for your final product.
Carbon: Stick built, bamboo, mass timber all have lower embodied carbon than concrete because of the cement needed. But if mixtures for 3D have more aggregates vs cement that will improve it’s and considering the average lifespan of concrete houses vs stick built, it’s not exactly an easy equation.
Thanks again to Werner and James to help us unpack this.
Yes, you heard that right. Today in the US, Germany, India, Africa and more You can 3d print houses, commercial buildings.
Imagine a giant robot that looks like a toothpaste tube or maybe more like an icing funnel that races along much faster than a pastry chef spewing out concrete in layer upon layer to create the walls of a house that will last generations?
We explore all that we even have some killer conversation on how to make Martian concrete! Expect in depth discussions about the Outdoors, the pros and cons of 3d construction printing what makes a home or building sustainable from European and American perspectives.
Featuring search and reduce helicopter pilot James Gray — who between flying duty over the Dolomites from his AF base in Italy, managing a portfolio of US short term rental properties and raising 3 kids enrolled in local Italian schools.
And now he is exploring how to make impact for the planet and his portfolio by asking the hard questions of our other guest, Werner Bittner.
He’s the CEO of Umdasch Group Ventures and previous chairman of the board of Contour Crafting Corporation based in CA. With it’s roots in research and patents since 1994, this company has not only sold military grade 3d printers to the US army corps of engineers but also has a civilian model to print the walls of houses and commercial buildings.
CC specializes in using a concrete mixture that has coarse aggregates making it more sustainable and cheaper “ink” than other models. As always, lots of nuance, collaboration, and abundant brainstorming to make this awesome world even better.
Welcome to the Summit Roundtable: Expanding Your 3d Printing Horizons.
Get in touch with James Gray Get in touch with Werner Bittner email whb@contourcrafting.com
Learn how your green can grow more green for your portfolio and the planet!
Visit us here for everything you need to know: www.sustainableinvestorsgroup.com
Schedule a call where we can discuss your investing needs, outdoor adventure plans, or just to get to know each other.
Special thanks to James Gray and Werner Bittner for taking the time to share so many great insights with us.
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SHOW CONTRIBUTORS Werner Bittner James Gray Morgan Fielder
Originally published at https://www.sustainableinvestorsgroup.com on May 13, 2021.
