3D Printed Car Powers Solar Home ... 3D Printed Solar Home Powers Car ... A Marriage Made for Cohousing?

Rethink design principles in cohousing inspired by 3D printed solar homes and cars.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) 3D Printed Home and Car

In what can only be described as THE love match of technologies  ... last month Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) unveiled an integrated system combining 3D print technology, solar and battery power.

Translation:   ORNL wirelessly linked a 3D printed car and a 3D printed house.

According to ORNL ... a first-of-its-kind design uses an integrated symbiotic energy system to share energy between a single-unit, 3D printed solar powered house and a 3D printed electric car.  

Translation:  The solar panels on the house provide electric power for the car.  On grey days, the battery in the car can power the house.  Is this a love match, or what?

It's dubbed:  Additve Manufactuing Integrated Energy or AMIE.

Will this new linking of cars and homes cause those of us in cohousing to rethink our design principle of corralling cars in their own space away from homes or booting them to the street?

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Quoting from the on-line website 3Ders.org_  "When scaled up to a full-size community, AMIE could support worldwide electricity needs, completely revolutionizing how we generate, use and store clean energy. Thanks to a collaboration between more than 20 major industry partners and with the innovative use of 3D printing technology, AMIE went from concept to launch within just one year."

So now, a car in every garage is not just a political grab line like a chicken in every pot.  A car, integrated with a home, could be the answer to both affordable housing and clean, fuel-efficient transportation.  

This technology is here ... NOW.  What it needs is a critical mass of early adopters to move it forward.  What better than cohousing?

But why should cohousers even think about 3D printed homes and ... cars?

• Affordability -- with the promise of a home being printed in 24 hours this will save many thousands of dollars in the construction budget
• Environmentally friendly -- a team at Sliperiet Fablab at Umeå Arts Campus is already researching 3D printing an entire home out of a cellulose based material.
• Design flexibility -- because 3D  printing is not locked into right angles many odd shaped infill spaces can be utilized for building
• Critical mass -- cohousers are early adopters for technology in housing providing the critical mass needed to bring a technology to market
• Values driven -- cohousers don't make decisions based on cost alone ... or even first!  Cohousers see that a technology that saves resources for everyone is an adoption worth considering.  Cohousers take the long term view.

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ORNL 3D Printed Card and Home

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In this example of the car and house being linked, how useful is this to pursue when a major feature of cohousing design is purposeful separation of the car from the home?  I'm sure cohousing architects will develop a design that will allow using this technology without abusing the cohousing design of pedestrian friendly streets.

​While I don't expect cohousing communities will drop more traditional housing design,  how can we take advantage of this cutting edge technology for BUILDING?   Can linking car and home make our cohousing communities even greener, more sustainable and affordable without losing or reducing one of the most important design features in cohousing?  
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You can see an example of a whole house 3D printer below.  Be sure to view the animation from Contour Crafting just below it.  3D printing homes is being done now.

"Edi-Bits" ... go to 3ders.com.  In the search box, type in:  houses.  Be prepared to lose yourself in this fascinating technology.

I hope the car comes in Ferrari Red ...

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 Qingdao Unique Products Develop Co Ltd 3D Whole House Printer. 3ders.com

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Contour Crafting Animation