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Jerry Whidby

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Could you grow a house?

Could you print a scaffold in the shape of a house, and then use the same techniques discussed in Anthony Atala's TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney.html to coat the scaffold with tree cells? Possibly spraying it on as seen on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXO_ApjKPaI

Keeping the structure alive would of course require a root structure. Perhaps one that already exist, or one that is fabricated in a similar manner. Imagine durable, self sustained, self repairing, eco friendly structures.

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Topics: science technology
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    Patrick Henn 500+

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    TEDx Organizer
    Nov 8 2012: Depends where you live, hard to grow a house in the artic

    • Jerry Whidby

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      Nov 8 2012: Hard to build an igloo in South Africa too. Who knows, maybe trees could one day be genetically modified to tolerate extreme temperatures. There has been a lot of research into extremophiles. Perhaps the solution lies within their genes.
      I think it should be taken into consideration the number of pollutants that are created manufacturing the items to build a house. Manufacturing, transportation, deforestation, work related accidents, coal burned to produce electricity, strip mining for the coal, oil needed to run all of these machines, and the actual construction with large machinery could all be reduced. As a society we are breaking a lot of ground on energy conservation. Imagine how much energy would be saved by producing a home this way. I would love to see a cost analysis on this. Maybe this would make the dream of owning a home attainable by everyone. Imagine driving through a neighborhood that looks like a forest.
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        Patrick Henn 500+

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        TEDx Organizer
        Nov 9 2012: Hi Jerry, I have by proxy, likes lots of others globally who use local resources, I used timber from trees grown in Ireland, where i live, that were harvested in in a sustainable forest. They constitute 3/4 of house, rest is made from clay bricks, albeit not sourced locally.

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