Feb 7, 2021
Building Sustainable Cities and Communities
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a sustainable world? I certainly have! Who wouldn’t want to live in green homes, knowing that you’re living in a place that is helping the environment? I will be exploring how we can use 3D printing and solar energy to create sustainable cities and communities around the world.
I’m going to shed some light on how we can 3D print the buildings, and use solar energy to power them, helping to solve the United Nations’ 11th Sustainable Development Goal.
Sustainable Development Goals:
If you’re wondering what the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are, they’re a group of 17 global goals established by the United Nations. They were introduced in 2015, and they are intended to be achieved by 2030. The UN’s SDG mission statement is “A blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”.
The 11th Goal — Sustainable Cities and Communities:
The UN described the 11th Goal as “making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.” In other words, overall improvement of communities and cities around the world. I will center on the sustainable part of the goal, by outlining how we can build and power these cities and communities.
Reaching the 11th goal won’t be easy because there are a lot of components we need to consider, and many processes that need to change. Two things we can change to help, are 3D printing homes, and powering them with solar energy.
3D printing may have started with mini models, but we can use bigger printers and alternative, sustainable and renewable materials to build the buildings. We should use 3D printing because it usually takes less than 24 hours to print the main structure of a house, and it has a 40% cost reduction compared to traditional building. Most importantly, it reduces material waste, which in turn releases less greenhouse gases than traditional building processes. On average, a regular 2,000 square foot home produces about 8,000 pounds of construction waste. Not to mention, the waste is transported to landfills by large diesel trucks, which is definitely not good for the environment. By lowering the amount of construction waste using 3D printing, we can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint associated with traditional building.
We would also use solar power because solar energy releases less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels, as the sun is a virtually unlimited resource, and it won’t run out… at least for 5 billions years! The electricity cost is also significantly less; electricity from fossil fuels costs between 5 cents and 17 cents per kilowatt-hour, while electricity from solar energy costs between 3 cents and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. In the long run, going solar is much cheaper than fossil fuels. We would also use solar energy instead of other alternative energies (wind, geothermal, hydropower, ect.) because it’s better than any other options in a urban environment — I’m pretty sure nobody wants a wind turbine in their backyard!
Although these ideas are centered mainly around the 11th SDG — Sustainable Cities and Communities, they also support Goals 7 — Affordable and Clean Energy, and 13 — Climate Action.
Achieving this won’t be easy, and there will be many mistakes and failures along the way, but we will reach the 11th Goal. Hopefully the world will come to see how 3D printing and solar energy can build and power sustainable cities and communities. I really hope that we will be able to live in a fully sustainable world in our lifetime.
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