The Impact of 3D Printing on the Environment - Assignment Example

The Impact of 3D Printing on the Environment I. Introduction In the past, the agreement was favourably and simply optimistic that 3D printing was inherently greener or environmentally friendly than traditional manufacturing technologies. However, as it becomes apparent today, 3D printing poses significant risks to the environment. Resolving this dilemma will contribute to the development of sustainable production technologies. To tackle them, one has to be definite in the beginning about the actual features and components of 3D printing, especially with regard to its production and consumption. The objectives of this essay are to discuss the concept of sustainability and sustainable business, the relationship between economic growth and sustainability, and the role of efficiency in achieving sustainability. More importantly, it analyses the environmental impact of 3D printing and how its environmental impact can be mitigated. II. Literature Review The notion of sustainable development was first used in forestry, where it implies avoiding harvesting or getting more than what the forest produces. However, sustainability as a policy model has its roots in the 1987 Brundtland Report (Bartolo et al., 2013). The document focused on the conflict between the desires of human beings to have a convenient life on the one hand and the limited potential of the environment on the other hand. Over time, the notion has been reconstructed as incorporating three domains, specifically, environment, economic, and social. Sustainability has been defined in numerous ways, yet the most commonly used definition is the one provided by Brundtland Report (Purvis & Grainger, 2013, p. 6): Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts: (1) the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and, (2) the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organisation on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs. Every definition of sustainability demands a consideration or view of the world as a structure—a structure that links spatial and temporal factors. A. Sustainable Business Sustainability is the capacity to cope with and preserve the environment for future generations. With regard to business, sustainable development concerns the integration of environmental, economic, and social aspects into the business model. It requires focusing on long-term, future objectives for the business instead of placing emphasis on temporary profitability (Purvis & Grainger, 2013). Being a sustainable business does not imply that one has to take for granted or deprioritise its performance or profitability. Sustainable business, in the long term, is in fact more cost-effective as they adjust to and expand with the evolving market. It can offer businesses competitive advantage and enable them to set their business apart from the competition (Narayanan & Das, 2013). There are numerous benefits that stem from integrating environmental, economic, and social aspects into the business decision-making process. It can guide decision makers in identifying and preventing future costs or disadvantages linked to unsustainable corporate actions, like releasing manufacturing waste into the ecosystem. It can also guide them in business planning, especially with regard to consumer satisfaction and expectations and taking advantage of growing industries and markets (Purvis & Grainger, 2013). Sustainable business involves notions like business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). A business that complies with social responsibility tries to lessen its unfavourable effect on society and raise its favourable impact (Narayanan & Das, 2013). Business ethics are particularly essential as inability to comply with them can have damaging effect on the capability of a business. At present, the emphasis of sustainable business has been on the value of environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is an ever more vital notion of contemporary corporate practice, as market demands from consumers and regulators hold companies responsible for their behaviour (Netravali & Pastore, 2014). Sustainable businesses are acknowledged and commended thus it becomes increasingly important for business organisations to comply with the principles of sustainability. B. Relation between economic growth and sustainability The advantages of economic growth, in the short term, are numerous—the more that economies and industries expand and profit, the greater employment opportunities and quality of life are. Technology has presently facilitated incredible products, amazing leisure, remarkable efficiencies, real-time communication, and global travel (Van Wijk & Van Wijk, 2015). Economic growth obtained from such progress in technology does in fact consume itself, as consumers increase their demands. However, in order to expand, the economy also consumes natural resources and discharges waste that contaminates the environment and places the ecosystem at risk. Unlimited utilisation or overexploitation of natural resources like gas and oil that drive economic development damages sustainability. Such counteracting forces weaken the basis upon which economic development is rooted in and, over time, generate a sinkhole which will engulf society, the environment, and the economy (Roebuck, 2012). However, implementing considerable cutbacks in the future economic growth rate may be needless to protect and maintain the ecosystem that build the foundation and support for human subsistence and welfare. In due course, the expansion of production and consumption will be restricted by natural resource limitations, and attaining sustainability will demand organisations and rules that sustain the economy within the limits established by the environment (Purvis & Grainger, 2013). However, according to Lipson and Kurman (2013), substantial GDP growth—an indicator of the individual worth of products and services—can nevertheless be attained in the meantime through a progress to consumption and technological processes adequate to markedly lessen the ecological footprint of economic growth. C. Role of efficiency in achieving sustainability Efficiency is the initial mote towards attaining sustainability in businesses and other organisations. Efficiency contributes to the regulation of increasing costs, lessening of environmental footprints, and enhancing the competitiveness and value of businesses. Efficiency takes on important roles on sustainable practices of countries and institutions. It is now highly essential to replace fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy as they have been associated with substantial decrease in carbon productions, alleviate climate change and resolve numerous issues linked to poverty (Roebuck, 2012). Nevertheless, it should be stressed that use of renewable resources is merely sustainable if they are utilised in ways that do not bring about destruction or harm to current environments. Therefore, unsatisfactory energy guidelines and unproductive energy technologies further raise unsustainability even as renewable resources have been used. Furthermore, a major efficient approach towards enhancing sustainability of housing areas include implementing energy reward programmes, enhancing the quality of the environment, building eco-friendly homes, use of renewable energy, and raising the awareness of the public about efficiency (Birtchnell & Hoyle, 2014). Therefore, a sustainable future is vital when strong systems that deal with energy consumption issues have been formed, executed, and sufficiently supplied with definite regulatory and monitoring structures. III. Analysis Current studies reveal the bleak calculation that, across the globe, approximately 2 million deaths annually are brought about by air pollution, a great deal of it produced by industrial production. Manufacturing is a common polluter, regardless of how it is carried out. Environmentally speaking, 3D printing has both advantages and disadvantages (Kurman, 2013). The environmental effect of manufacturing goods includes specific stages outside of the production process. All products, regardless if they are traditionally produced or 3D printed, undergo a product life cycle. For instance, an ecologically damaging phase in a product life cycle is the mining method of unprocessed material. Another phase that discharges huge polluting footprints is the product assembly stage (Kurman, 2013). It requires a massive amount of petroleum-based energy to transport goods to where they are retailed or traded. Building, cooling, and heating retail sites damages the environment as well (Peters, 2014). The most damaging impact occurs during the final stage of a product’s life cycle—disposal. A. Production and Consumption of 3D Printing 3D printing could sooner or later create a new type of pollution—fast-paced garbage production. Designers being taught to value their raw materials are imparted with the principle “think twice, cut once” (Kurman, 2013, para 17). Yet, when people lay their hands on highly convenient production technologies, it is simple to abandon such sensible old saying. Similar to printing out numerous copies of a document, specialists and engineers may find themselves hastily reproducing a chain of cumulative variants of a design, an environmentally damaging mechanism (Olson, 2013). Several more limited studies provide a more definite image of the effects of 3D printing. The most widespread environmental assertion is that they generate fewer wastes. Such assertion seems justifiable, at least for certain 3D printing tools. Even though 3D printing may certainly improve a circular economy, there remain several factors to take into consideration. Primarily, printing materials like plastics are mostly generated from fossil fuels at present and the manufacturing of plastics also consumes energy. Moreover, existing 3D printers are activated by electricity that is largely supplied by power plants fuelled by fossil fuel (Kreiger & Pearce, 2013). A number of LCAs have been carried out that examine the environment outcomes of 3D printing or additive manufacturing and traditional manufacturing. For instance, Krieger and Pearce (2013) have carried out an environment LCA on three plastic goods. The involved discharges and energy use from traditional extensive manufacturing in, and transport from, low-wage economies are evaluated against experimental analyses on a RepRap 3D printer manufacturing products with polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), in the presence and absence of solar photovoltaic (PV) power (Kreiger & Pearce, 2013, p. 1511): The results for distributed manufacturing with existing low-cost open-source 3D printers using Read More