It’s not surprising that people paying attention to the emergence of 3D printing are referring to it as a revolutionary and disruptive technology. The ability to print many of the goods people need in everyday life, instead of purchasing them at stores could mean huge changes for economic systems. As 3D printing becomes more sophisticated and cheaper it could well lead for a reduced need for factories and for the transportation and retail networks that bring manufactured goods to end users.
Obviously changes of this nature could affect employment patterns. Reduction of factory activity would also mean the loss of jobs in the traditional manufacturing, transportation, marketing and retail sectors — the term ‘disruptive’ can rightfully be applied to this technology.
Now what if 3D printing was combined with another potentially disruptive technology? What, you may ask, might be as disruptive as the changes that home based manufacturing can bring the world?
The answer is a source of abundant energy that is much cheaper than anything that is available today.
In October of 2011, an Italian inventor, Andrea Rossi, has announced that he is preparing to publicly launch and commercialize an invention he calls the energy catalyzer, or E-Cat, which he says is essentially a boiler which is able to produce large quantities of heat by virtue of a previously unknown low-energy nuclear reaction from a combination of nickel, hydrogen and a secret catalyst. Rossi has stated that he plans to produce energy from his invention at about ten percent of the cost of current sources of power.
During October, Rossi has said that scientists will be given unprecedented access to his invention and will be invited to report on their findings. The first testing will take place on October 6, 2011 in Bologna, Italy. Later in the month, Rossi has stated that he will deliver a 1 MW thermal power plant which used E-Cat technology to an as-yet-undisclosed customer in the United States. This plant will be tested by scientists and filmed and posted online for the public to observe.
The technology as yet is unproven. But based on tests that have been carried out earlier this year by Swedish and Italian scientists, there does seem to be good reason to think that Andrea Rossi has made a significant breakthrough.
I have covered the E-Cat story extensively on another blog I publish: E-Cat World. I will continue to closely follow developments on that site.
If sophisticated 3D printing/manufacturing is combined with an abundant and cheap source of energy, the possibilities for changes in society are phenomenal. Not only would home manufacturing be possible, but it would be available at very low cost if energy was 90 per cent cheaper than is current prices.
If energy is truly cheap and abundant, then prices for all goods should be greatly reduced, since a large amount of the cost of any product is based on the cost of energy required to create it. Lower energy costs leads to lower costs of everything.
In terms of 3D printing, this would mean that the raw materials required to build the printers would be cheaper, the cost of the materials used by the printers would be reduced, and the energy required to run the machines would be cheaper also. This could potentially lead to home life being very different to what is common now. People could be far more self-sufficient in terms of the their energy needs, and the production of products needed in daily life.
The prospects are tantalizing and the changes could be profound — but first w e need to wait and see if Andrea Rossi can deliver on his promises regarding his invention. October is only a day away. By the end of next month we should have a clearer picture about the possibilities of E-Cat technology. If the results are positive, 3D printing enthusiasts could have something very intriguing to explore.