MAINE PUBLIC • November 21, 2022
Researchers at the University of Maine on Monday unveiled what they say is a promising, climate-friendly response to the nation's affordable housing crisis: the world's first, bio-based 3D printed home. On the outside, this home looks like any other new construction. It has white siding and black trim around four front windows. The only difference is that the roof is curved, and the corners of the home are rounded. The entire house, from the ceiling to the walls, has been printed with the university's 3D printer. The home has been printed using a material known as wood flour. It's essentially the waste left over from a sawmill — and mixed together with a binder made from corn. "There's 1.2 million tons of wood residuals in our sawmills right now in the region that could go to print housing," Habib Dagher, executive director of the university's Advanced Structures and Composites Center, said.