Contribution of production processes in environmental impact of low carbon materials made by additive manufacturing

• Published in: Automation in construction 2024-09, Vol.165, p.105545, Article 105545
• Main Authors: Assunção, Julie, Chadha, Kunaljit, Vasey, Lauren, Brumaud, Coralie, Escamilla, Edwin Zea, Gramazio, Fabio, Kohler, Matthias, Habert, Guillaume
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 3D printing (3DP); Earth construction; Environmental impact; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Robotic fabrication
• ISSN: 0926-5805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.autcon.2024.105545

This paper compares conventional earth construction with innovative additive techniques. The goal is to assess the sustainability of employing digital fabrication in earth construction, with a particular emphasis on analyzing the Global Warming Potential. The research also investigates how printing speed and resolution impact environmental outcomes. Using a Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment model, the analysis reveals that integrating digital fabrication leads to an overall increase in environmental impact across all cases studied. The environmental impact of 1m3 of digitally fabricated earth-based material is nearly double that of conventional earth techniques, ranging from 65 to 20 kgCO2eq/m3 compared to 20–40 kgCO2eq/m3. This emphasizes the urgent need to reduce material usage in digitally fabricated structures. Higher system resolution leads to increased environmental impacts and may require the same construction time as conventional methods. These findings underscore the importance of carefully weighing the trade-offs between the benefits of digital fabrication and its potential environmental drawbacks. •Earth-based materials used in digital fabrication exhibit higher embodied carbon compared to conventional techniques.•Material processing and deposition increase the overall environmental impact in digital fabrication processes.•Implementing smart design strategies that reduce material usage can offset the higher environmental impact.•Digital fabrication offers greater potential for mitigating the impact of high-carbon materials.•Resolution significantly affects construction time and environmental footprint in digitally fabricated low-carbon materials.