“Demandufacture” and Green Transportation

The Impact on the Globalization & the Environment

I am coining the term “demandufacture” here as a term to mean on-demand manufacture. Put simply, it means creating products or facilities as needed; preferably from long lasting but easily recyclable materials. The implications for technology like this could disrupt global economic inequality as well as our bulky, wasteful international supply chain. Now imagine clean energy transportation as part of the global logistics network. Petroleum could be used mostly in petroleum products rather than as fuel, cheaper more abundant plastics mean easier on-site manufacturing. It’s a beneficial cycle.

Why should trucks, trains, air or ocean freighters haul around huge heavy containers full of light weight commodities? Airlines generally charge by volume. Why should a 975000 pounds (442253 kg) Boeing-747 spend tens of thousands of gallons of fuel to move 5,000 pounds of pillows and iPads from East Asian manufacture centers to Western countries? This wasteful practice exists of course because the cost of manufacture in the second and third world is much cheaper than in the first. If fuel costs were ever to become so high as to offset this labor cost inequality, manufacture would return. That’s a no-brainer.

But why spend all that money hauling around low density merchandise? Even with sophisticated consolidation techniques, commodity density can’t match that of raw materials. With demandufacturing, the global logistics network could be dramatically optimized and made sustainable. Transported on solar+wind powered ships; the global environmental impact could be dramatically reduced. As the output performance of solar increases steadily; who wouldn’t want to switch?

Let me note, even if you DON’T believe in global warming; oil is a finite resource and should be rationed appropriately regardless of circumstances. Personally I think Apollo era pilot telling NASA to censor their climate results is like telling the NSF they need to stop funding any biology projects because evolution isn’t proven. In any case, even if you’re most “Conservative” climate-denier in the world; there’s a few things you’d have to agree on.

• After start up costs, solar and wind are essentially free
• Consumable, non-renewable fuels cost trillions to extract.
• Fossil fuels exist in a limited quantity, it will get more expensive and then disappear altogether
• Not paying fuel costs on an ocean vessel would result in huge competitive advantage.
• Having objects manufactured instantly from a vast network of enhanced “printers” would cut down the logistics costs of certain commodities.
• Managing a database of designs and DRM would cost much less in labor than several warehouses of surplus unused items in storage.

The bottom line, alternative energy in transportation and use of “demandufacturing” could cut costs tremendously and protect the economy from its dependence on oil scarcity. Also, Even if you don’t believe in climate change; why not switch to alternative energy in the event that you are wrong. Overall I think times are changing, but there are still certain actors causing damage. Oil companies still get 12x the subsidies of other energy sectors, but hopefully change is in the air.

*Note: I pulled some stats to compare transportation ratio, Dollar/Kilogram moved, and will be experimenting with the page to get the javascript graphs up and showing.

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http://www.iontom.com/2012/04/12/demandufactur/ http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png Alternative Energy, Blog, Three Column Posts, 3d printing, alternative energy, demandufacture, green energy, ondemand, peak oil, renewable, solar, wind