Can 3D printing technology help ameliorate scarcity?

There is a technology that is about to have as big an impact on manufacturing as the personal computer had on--everything. The technology is called 3D (for three-dimensional) printing. It can build solid, hollow, and complex structures the same way an inkjet printer works--a print head moving back and forth, laying down stuff in a pattern. You just do it layer after layer, and voila--a 3D object.

3D printing would be mildly interesting if you could just do it with plastic. But you can make METAL structures this way--Ducati uses it for motorcycle engine parts; US defense firms use it for jet engine parts; a titanium JAW that was 3D-printed was recently implanted in an elderly patient.. And you can 3D-print with BIOLOGICAL materials--CELLS. A full kidney was built recently.

You can do 3D printing in CHOCOLATE. Tell me that's not going to be big.

This is not in the lab, it is real, presently about a $1 billion industry. It is coming very quickly, and the economic advantages it holds will help it take over the manufacturing sector. Don't take my word for it, take The Economist's. Some of the features:
--you don't need molds or forms. So customizing the shape of something is easier, and you can make things that can't be injection molded or machined.
--the design and manufacturing don't need to occur in the same place.
--much less labor is required than for traditional manufacturing processes, like machining.
--it's much faster too.

Clearly, there is a problem when this takes hold in the developed nations: what's going to happen to all the JOBS in conventional manufacturing?

But that's not the point of this blog. I think there might be a place for 3D printing in developing nations--specifically in the AGRICULTURE sector.

First, let me tell you about a special kind of 3D printing called Contour Crafting.. Contour Crafting is just 3D printing with CONCRETE, on a very large (building size) scale. Contour Crafting was invented by a good friend of mine, Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California. He has built whole walls and very complex shapes. And remember, it doesn't need molds or forms! You can make very complex shapes (multiply curved walls, with wires and plumbing inside if you want) with less material, and very quickly. A house could be built in a day.

Professor Khoshnevis already has the vision to use Contour Crafting to make high quality, affordable housing in developing nations. The idea of using it in agriculture is just another application.

30% of all the crops in Africa are lost due to poor storage. What if we were to use Contour Crafting to build durable, high quality storage facilities? The trick will be to be able to use INDIGENOUS, affordable materials--mud, sand, and water, rather than energy-intensive concrete. We think this is possible.

Imagine a Contour Crafting Convoy that drives around Africa building food storage facilities. If local soils, plant materials and solar heating are enough for the buildings, the only imported material would be fuel for the vehicles. They would also carry smaller 3D printers with them to make the other components that would be needed for complete structures--hinges, brackets, doorknobs, whatever.

And what else could we build with these techniques beside food storage? How about vertical planting containers? Irrigation ditches that don't wash away in the rains? 

This could be one of the many, many technology solutions that we will need to ameliorate the coming resource crisis.