Dr. Eric Masanet Associate Professor, McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University

Additive manufacturing (AM)—the process of fabricating parts in layer-by-layer fashion—has received much attention as a potentially disruptive technology for industrial sector decarbonization. Its true potential, however, depends largely on its application feasibility and overcoming major technical and economic barriers, which are difficult to assess using traditional techno-economic analysis methods. This presentation will discuss how an improved modeling approach that integrates engineering analysis, life-cycle assessment, energy systems modeling, and economic analysis can be used for deeper techno-economic evaluation, thereby enabling more robust AM technology research and deployment decisions. To illustrate the utility of this integrated approach, recent case studies on AM processes applied to lightweight aircraft components and industrial tooling will be presented. These examples shed light on which applications might yield the greatest sustainability benefits, as well as which technical and cost challenges must be overcome to more quickly and fully realize these benefits.

Bio: Dr. Masanet is Associate Professor in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University, where he leads the Energy and Resource Systems Analysis Laboratory. From June 2015 to July 2017, he served as Head of the Energy Demand Technology Unit at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, where he led the development of long-term clean technology outlooks for the global buildings, industry, and transport sectors. He is the former Editor in Chief of Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, the leading peer-reviewed journal on sustainable resource systems. Prior to joining Northwestern in 2012, Eric spent eight years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where he served as Deputy Head of the International Energy Studies Group. While at LBNL, he held a joint research appointment at UC Berkeley, where he also served as Program Manager of the Engineering and Business for Sustainability Certificate Program. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, with a specialization in sustainable manufacturing.