Robots Built a House That Generates More Energy Than It Needs (dwell.com)

MikeChino writes: The world's first home designed, planned, and built with mainly digital processes just opened its doors in Switzerland. Developed by eight ETH Zurich professors, DFAB House is a pilot project showcasing futuristic building technologies that may someday work their way into our homes. It's topped with a solar array that generates, on average, 1.5 times more energy than the unit needs (an intelligent control system eliminates the risk of load peaks), [and there are waste heat recovery systems to recycle heat from shower trays back into the boiler.] Some of the pioneering ETH-developed construction processes include: "Mesh Mould technology, in which an autonomous 'In Situ Fabricator' robot builds a 3D mesh formwork for concrete load-bearing walls; Smart Slab, a lightweight concrete slab with 3D-printed sand formwork that's less than half the weight of a conventional concrete slab; Smart Dynamic Casting, an automatic robotic slip-forming process; and Spatial Timber Assemblies, a digital prefabrication process that uses a dual robot system to create timber frame modules," reports Dwell, adding that people "manually filled in formwork, bolted CNC-milled and 3D-printed pieces into place, and tweaked the digital design process."

Comments

Bitcoin

[PopeRatzo]

So, could I use the excess energy the house generates to mine cryptocurrency so it will pay for itself?

To be honest, I get the feeling it might be exhausting to live in a house that's working harder than I am.

Re:Bitcoin

[bobstreo]

So, could I use the excess energy the house generates to mine cryptocurrency so it will pay for itself?

To be honest, I get the feeling it might be exhausting to live in a house that's working harder than I am.

It would probably be more cost effective to create a grow room for umm "hydroponic vegetables" or something, depending on the local laws regarding growing things which can vary by county and state.

Re:That's Fetch

[Locke2005]

"Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen!"

Re:"Smart Slab" in action

[Locke2005]

That's China, where they _really_ cut corners! The Swiss don't cut corners! They just make things extremely expensive because they are designed to last for several generations.

Re:That's Fetch

[nospam007]

"Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen!"

Fetchez la vache!

Hydroponic

[DrYak]

It would probably be more cost effective to create a grow room for umm "hydroponic vegetables" or something, depending on the local laws regarding growing things which can vary by county and state.

(Note: Though Switzerland is also federal, it is divided into cantons and comunes, not states and counties).

Regarding the legality of growing the specific specie of "hydroponic vegetables" that you had in mind, the law is quite clear: you can go full commercial as long as your producing low... "vitamin" vegetable, and people are allowed to carry their snack (= small quantity for consumption) regardless of content of "vitamins".

In practice, based on what I've heard from friends (sorry only anecdotes, no first-hand experience: I'm more a beer type of person), growing your own "high-vitamin" "hydroponic vegetables" for your own consumption is more or less tolerated, as long as it's not exploited commercially.

So to go back to your proposition :
  - To recoup costs, they could grow nearly any other vegetables commercially and sell them, but not the "high-vitamin hydroponic vegetables" you had in mind (the commercial exploitation being the big practical "nono", the "high vitamin" content being the legal pretext to prevent it).

But in practice, the canton (=state)-owned utility companies will pay you when buying back energy.
It is common practice here around for anyone with local production (such as solar panels) to have special meters that can sell back electricity into the network.

So most probably, they are going to earn the easiest money simply by injecting the extra electricity into the network.
(No need to fuss with any agricultural work).

In situ

[DrYak]

They're basically saying that portions of the building structure were 3D printed or CNC'ed, then assembled on site.

Look at the photos. Here the portions where 3D printed on site.

They're just trying to claim that nobody's ever done it at this level before.

And, possibly, they're right.

Yup, their claim to novelty is to directly have the machine built the house on site, instead of merely assembling pre-fab.
(Like the couple of other 3d printed house project that got mentionned on /. over the last year).