My roommate linked me to this article about 3D printed food last night. This wasn't completely new information to me, because I heard about it at the Solar Decathlon and green innovations XPO, but I was starled by how quickly this technology is developing and moving onto the market.
In my opinion, 3D printing has fantastic applications in manufacturing because it targets base materials only to the areas where needed (rather than cutting shapes out of plastic or metal sheets and having to throw away or downcycle the scraps), thus saving energy and resources. However, I don't want it in my food.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because my capstone is about food. But I think these little spinach dinosaurs are creepy. How do you get spinach into a printable form? How do you keep it green? You've seen vegetables go bad in the fridge--they turn weird colors when they start breaking down. Moreover, they lose some of their nutritional valuethe more they break down. I worry aboutchemical additives--emulsifiers and artificial colors--, which are not real food as far as I'm concerned. It's cute that the kiddos were happy to eat these dinosaur bites, but I really don't think that kids need to be eating any more processed food than they already are. There are other ways to get kids to eat their greens. (I mean, if you really want dinosaurs, you could just use a cookie cutter on a real omelet.)
Of course, not just any kid is going to be able to print out a spinach dinosaur right now. As the original article says,
The company behind it, 3D Systems, is planning to start selling two models of the device later this year. The first one will cost about $5,000 and spins out candies in only one color. The top model, ChefJet Pro, will run you $10,000.
Right now, you're probably going to see these in fancy pants restaurants, printing out fancy chocolate shapes for your fancy dessert.
However, that's exactly my problem with it: sure it's cool, but does this benefit anyone other than the people who already have money? Is this anything more than another techie toy? I think that this application of 3D printing is a waste of financial and physical resources. I find it hard to believe that so much money is going towards researching the problem of how to make novelty sugar cubes instead of the food distribution problem or the obesity problem. And that's just in the realm of food ethics. That $10k for a ChefJet (forget the money that paid for the research and development behind it) could have gone towards cancer research, solar energy storage research, or any other worthy cause; and instead you could get up and spend 10 minutes to make your own spinach omelet, just like everybody else. As a society, we really don't seem to have our priorities in line.
What do you think?
Would you eat a 3D printed hamburger?
Feel free to comment below!
If you'd like to share an opinion piece on another environmental issue, contact us at ssu_environmentaldepartment@soka.edu.
Today marks the last day of the 2 week long 2013 Solar Decathlon competition at Irvine Great Park. If you didn't have a chance to check out this fantastic event, you're in the right place to learn more and get a taste of some of the ideas that the competitors put out there.
If you're short on time, this video gives a quick overview of what you missed:
The more detailed version:
The Solar Decathlon is a competition that challenges college teams from all around the world to build houses that are affordable, appealing to consumers, and optimally produce and conserve energy (within certain constraints.) The Irvine site (as opposed to the European or Chinese sites) hosted 20 teams this year.
Each team spent 2 years designing and building their houses. 3 weeks ago, the houses were dismantled, shipped to Irvine Great Park, and reassembled for the competition.
The teams competed in 10 areas (thus the name Solar Decathlon):
1. Architecture
Architectural elements such as holistic design, lighting, inspiration, and documentation
2. Market Appeal
Livability, marketability, and buildability based on the target client of each team's choosing
3. Engineering
Functionality, efficiency, innovation, reliability, and documentation
4. Communications
Web content, audiovisual presentation, etc
5. Affordability
6. Comfort Zone
Temperature and humidity ranges
7. Hot Water
Must supply all the heated water for daily needs, including showering and laundry
8. Appliances
Must mimic actual appliance use in a real house
9. Home Entertainment
Includes holding two dinners parties and a movie night for 6 "neighboring" competitors, who act as jurors by awarding points based on ambiance, meal quality, and overall experience.
10. Energy Balance
Must produce more energy than they consume
Each team could earn up to 100 points per category. There was a winner for each category as well as for the overall competition.
The Teams at a Glance:
For more details, please visit their pages and read more!
Be sure to check out http://www.solardecathlon.gov for a full breakdown of every aspect of the competition and the teams including more videos and photos!
You can also check out photos taken at the event by visiting Soka studentshere.
If you'd like to learn more about sustainable housing, you might like to look into Earth Ships. Last year's Spring Eco Wing won the SSU grant to attend an Earthship workshop in LA, and so they have collected a few resources on the subject, including a full length documentary available for free on youtube. There's also more information at the official Earthship Biotecture website.
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There was also a green innovation XPO simultaneously happening at Great Park. For obvious reasons, we spent more time exploring the houses, but we did take a few minutes to check out a few of the booths on things like aquaculture gray water filtration for gardens and 3D printing biodegradable plastic forms.
This last one in particular is worth mentioning because it's really cool, potentially scary for some people, and ACTUALLY UNDER WAY RIGHT NOW:
Welcome to the future. What are you going to contribute to it?
Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because my capstone is about food. But I think these little spinach dinosaurs are creepy. How do you get spinach into a printable form? How do you keep it green? You've seen vegetables go bad in the fridge--they turn weird colors when they start breaking down. Moreover, they lose some of their nutritional value the more they break down. I worry about chemical additives--emulsifiers and artificial colors--, which are not real food as far as I'm concerned. It's cute that the kiddos were happy to eat these dinosaur bites, but I really don't think that kids need to be eating any more processed food than they already are. There are other ways to get kids to eat their greens. (I mean, if you really want dinosaurs, you could just use a cookie cutter on a real omelet.)
However, that's exactly my problem with it: sure it's cool, but does this benefit anyone other than the people who already have money? Is this anything more than another techie toy? I think that this application of 3D printing is a waste of financial and physical resources. I find it hard to believe that so much money is going towards researching the problem of how to make novelty sugar cubes instead of the food distribution problem or the obesity problem. And that's just in the realm of food ethics. That $10k for a ChefJet (forget the money that paid for the research and development behind it) could have gone towards cancer research, solar energy storage research, or any other worthy cause; and instead you could get up and spend 10 minutes to make your own spinach omelet, just like everybody else. As a society, we really don't seem to have our priorities in line.
