Sustainability of 3D printing vs. machining

What is it about?

We measured the environmental impacts of two 3D printers vs. a milling machine, to see if 3D printing is greener or not. Turns out it's more complicated than that, depending largely on machine utilization and the kind of part. Since this paper, we've measured & published about many more types of 3D printers, for more comprehensive industry-relevant results, but this paper describes the methodology most fully.

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Why is it important?

3D printing is booming, and will replace a lot of machining and other manufacturing in the future. Lots of people have measured energy use of 3D printing and machining, but no one had yet tried to measure a comprehensive set of environmental impacts (climate change, resource depletion, acid rain, smog, water pollution, land use, etc.), and almost no one had yet tried to measure the full life-cycles either (including not just the printing / cutting of parts, but making the machines themselves, too).