Ok, so this series ended up being very very irregular, but here’s another few maker projects of interest.

Although we often hear about our own individual carbon footprint and of the airline business, a huge part of our collective emissions actually come from building construction, especially making concrete and the day to day energy use of buildings. 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is not the solution, but perhaps a part of a mix of solutions. At the very least, it’s one evolving field of research that’s worth keeping track of, in part because certification of new materials and techniques takes time and represent a pretty high barrier to entry, so anything as new as 3D printing is bound to hit restrictions, or show a path forward for other innovative ideas.

It’s sometimes ironic to look at 3D printing amongst solutions for more sustainable living, since most of the examples we see are printed in… plastic. There are a number of projects and tools to use recycled plastic and/or recycle what you print, but this one is a new twist. Transforming another by-product into a new printing material.

During the first few months of the pandemic, when a lot of products, especially personal protection equipment (PPE) in healthcare settings, was in short supply or completely unavailable, a lot of people in various makerspaces mobilized to invent and produce replacements they could build quickly. Our own Communautique (coordinators of this year’s Fab City summit) were part of that effort with echofab and their design and production of a visor

Some topics you might have seen once in a while over the last few years: a movement to simply give money to people in need instead of thinking-up complex programs and going through NGOs; frugal innovation and Jugaad (“a colloquial word in India, which refers to a non-conventional, frugal innovation, often termed a ‘hack’”) as inspiration for western DIY; giving people back their agency, empowerment.