ICON co-founder Jason Ballard argues that sustainability efforts in construction should focus on innovating cement rather than replacing concrete with other materials.
Opinion
Ballard: Concrete homes produce less lifecycle carbon than traditional stick-built homes
“When you sort of did the whole accounting, sort of the life cycle accounting, there was a good argument to be made then and now that a house made of like more resilient, energy efficient materials on a life cycle actually would produce less carbon than one tha…”
Opinion
Ballard: Drywall is the worst building material ever invented by humans
“Like if I offered you a million dollar prize, or the whole audience listening to the show, a million dollar prize to come up with a building material that could actually pass building code that was more cheaply and poorly made than drywall, nobody would win th…”
Assertion Partly supported
Ballard: ICON's 3D-printed homes sustained zero damage in 7.2 magnitude earthquake
“So, yeah, that's a very active seismic area, and not a lot, and so we designed the houses to be seismic. We had to go through a bunch of seismic testing, seismic evaluation, seismic structural and civil engineering, and then not long after we finished the proj…”
Insight
Ballard: In 3D-printed construction, complex curves cost the same as straight lines
“Yeah, you got things that look expensive. But are the same price to print as a straight line.”
Opinion
Ballard: Traditional stick framing will never yield breakthroughs to solve homelessness
“We've been stick framing homes for hundreds or even a thousand years. And it's not like we're going to discover some secret breakthrough in stick framing homes. It's going to allow us to solve homelessness.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ballard: Municipal curfews halt automated 3D printers, doubling ICON's labor costs
“There's no hammering, but the building code says you have to stop at seven PM, but these machines are designed to just turn them on and print. And so right now, like I could print homes in one week for sure, but it's taking us two weeks, which means even with …”