ABW: Commercial Advertisement One – 3D Printing
(Lester, this is for your review–Bess Valentine)
“American Buggy Whip – The Future Is Now!”
(Pan over a lush green farm field at dawn. A farmer hitches his horse to a wooden wagon, an open buggy. He faces the camera. Deep lines score his tanned face. The blue eyes are bright, friendly, and clear. He tips his straw-hat hello.)
“3D printing, otherwise known as additive manufacturing is a system for building items like dishes, houses, cars, bells, lamps, and other items people might use. It is a system that changes an engineering design parameter from the optimization of centralized manufacturing to the use of distributed, low volume, manufacturing facilities–or even production in your home.”
“One obvious use for additive manufacturing is the building of items on a distant planet. All we need do is send software to the astronauts, not finished goods. Additive manufacturing, 3D printing, takes into account the raw materials available and then builds the items our astronauts need. One reason additive manufacturing is so important in space transportation is the only item transported is software code for the 3D system–as well as the local delivery of local raw materials. Heck, sounds good to me…For them space guys.”
(Farmer circles, then sits in his buggy. His face shows satisfaction and happiness as he settles in and grabs the whip, winking before he speaks.)
“But, they say, a less obvious a use for additive manufacturing is to address anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance here on Earth. Transportation is a huge consumer of fossil fuels–they say. The power for manufacturing facilities is enormous. They also say we should ship raw materials, not finished goods. They say the energy requirements of a warehouse are now unnecessary–here on Earth. I ask, since when?”
(Farmer snaps his whip and smiles. The horse whinnies.)
“Supposedly, a home-based additive manufacturing facility–supported by a regional manufacturing facility for larger products–has tremendous advantages in energy use and GHG output. For example, a solar or wind system could power a home system. Excess power could be shunted to the community based additive manufacturing system as well. No huge boxes full of bulky items are shipped across country and delivery is right away. They say, imagine getting anything you want built right in your home. They say, you decide want you want on the Internet, order the software, and boom, it gets built for you. Says them.”
(Farmer shakes his head back and forth. He looks over to his horse snapping his whip. The horse shakes its mane no as well.)
“All sounds pretty good, but consider the negatives:
- People will use less energy
- Old facilities will shut down and new facilities will replace them
- Fossil fuels will lose their impact on policy
- Millions of new engineers will be needed
- The 3D printers will need to be built
- More distributed power generation will cut costs for power
- Recycled items will be in high demand
- CO2 emissions will be reduced by 20% or more
(The buggy begins to roll. A bucolic scene lit by the morning sun passes by the camera. Yellow rays of sun poke through tree canopies as light winds puff. )
“Don’t let an insidious monster of change, growth, intelligence, job creation, and environmental leadership take hold. It means progress through change. Change we do not need. It means taxes for you and me. It’s a job killer. Let’s work together, neighbor, and squash unnecessary change. We’re doing fine the way we are.”
(He looks over at his horse, whip in hand, swatting it on the rump.)
“Being a leader is easy: Just think of leadership as a horse’s ass. So make a stink and stop change. You’ll be glad you did.”
(Voice Over)
“This message is brought to you by American Buggy Whip–another partner in the intransigent economy.”
Ms Valentine,
–But I like 3D technology–
ABW will not fund this.
Lester
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