SoylentNews

irfan [soylentnews.org] writes:

Kris De Decker [krisdedecker.org] of Low-tech Magazine [lowtechmagazine.com] has an, as usually, well researched article on the sustainability of digital fabrication [lowtechmagazine.com], from fully automated industrial CNC machines to smaller consumer grade machines used in the digital maker revolution.

From the article:

Digital fabrication is praised as the future of manufacturing. Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machine tools can convert a digital design into an object with the click of a mouse, which means the production process is completely automated. The use of digital machine tools has spread rapidly in factories over the last two decades, and they have now become cheap and user-friendly enough to bring them within reach of workshops and makers.

While CNC machines have been embraced by many, including some environmentalists who say the technology can be more sustainable, it's important to consider the very high energy use of digital machine tools. Compared to the earlier generation of human-controlled machine tools, CNC machines use much more power, and the potential to improve their energy efficiency is very limited. Choosing fewer automated technologies is the key to sustainable manufacturing.

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Original Submission