Robotic manufacturing will play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions — from the US Government roadmap:
Our roadmap for green manufacturing emphasizes the recycling of all the components and subsystems used throughout the manufacturing process, starting from mining and processing of raw materials through production and distribution of finished products to recycling product materials. To create a step change, new manufacturing techniques will need to be developed and products will have to be designed with this goal. For example, transitioning to additive manufacturing techniques would dramatically reduce waste for machined products/components. New logistics systems are also needed to enable widespread recycling; currently, it is often so difficult to recycle materials that companies either don’t recycle or they don’t universally recycle everything that they could. We are particularly concerned with re-use of the manufacturing infrastructure, recycling of raw materials, minimizing the energy and power requirements at each step, and repurposing subsystems for the production of new products.
- 5 years: The manufacturing process will recycle 10% of raw materials, reuse 50% of the equipment, and use only 90% of the energy used in 2010 for the same process.
- 10 years: The manufacturing process will recycle 25% of raw materials, reuse 75% of the equipment, and use only 50% of the energy used in 2010 for the same process.
- 15 years: The manufacturing process will recycle 75% of raw materials, reuse 90% of the equipment, and use only 10% of the energy used in 2010 for the same process
RobotEnomics 