Dr. AJ Perez of MIT-HAUS [Source: MIT]
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi chat with Dr. AJ Perez, a distinguished MIT-trained engineer, entrepreneur, and sustainability advocate.
Dr. AJ Perez, a three-time MIT engineering graduate (SB ‘13, MengM ‘14, PhD ‘23) and recipient of a Sustainable Design Fellowship issued by the Morningside Academy of Design, refers to himself as a lifelong learner. In addition, his team was awarded the Chandler Fellowship to pursue innovative research at MIT aimed at improving the health of our plant. He also holds the distinction as the first PhD at MIT to complete the Sloan School of Management Sustainability certificate program. Dr. Perez is an experienced industrial tech entrepreneur and an impact investor holding a FINRA series 65. We have also covered IndustrialML, which AJ founded and served on the Board of Directors, previously in our interview with Dr. Perez’s colleague and collaborator, Arjun Chandar.
Dr. Perez, or AJ, as he preferred to be called during our interview, has set a goal of helping to solve the global housing crisis in a sustainable and globally equitable way. For this interview, AJ spoke from his experience as a Research Scientist at MIT.
Recycled plastic composite, 3D printed, prefabricated home component by MIT-HAUS [Source: MIT]
About a decade ago, the UN found that nearly 1.6 billion people lacked adequate housing, globally. That number is larger now, closer to 2 billion. What makes distributive manufacturing using recycled plastics unique is that it brings what is abundant in supply to the demand.
Instead of establishing a select number of large manufacturing facilities in certain pockets of the world that produce large amounts of products and parts, and then distribute them globally to various regions, AJ believes that distributive manufacturing can create smaller, more localized manufacturing sites that use local resources and employ local people.
In the last few decades, plastic has followed humans around the world. To many this recycling conundrum is perceived solely as a pollution problem; but, to AJ, this presented an opportunity to “mine waste.” Plastic waste can be used as raw material for 3D printers to build houses for people in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and South America, places that could particularly use the housing infrastructure.
A building has three main components: lighting/electrical, HVAC/mechanical and the structural building envelope. These can be fabricated, component by component, locally.
We have covered companies like Cemex and ICON that 3D print housing with cement, but that involves a material that comes from the earth in certain regions that must then be transported to be used. It is heavy and cumbersome and not readily available everywhere. We have covered “green concrete,” but in AJ’s opinion, that material may reduce the carbon footprint to a certain extent but it adds to local pollution and utilizes much of the region’s scarce local potable water resources. The MIT-HAUS project (pronounced “Meet House”) has two core strategies: prefabricated modules (i.e., walls, stairs, floors, roofs, foundations, etc.) and to focus on materials (i.e., concrete for higher-end, commercial projects or recycled plastics for more economical, residential projects). The key to the success of MIT-HAUS lies in flexibility, or modularity, wherein they can focus on the entire house or even parts of the building for certain projects in certain regions.
Plastic waste is not a material that must be imported or exported, it is available locally in many regions, particularly shoreline ones, it is easier to transport than cement or wood, and, it is in mass abundance globally. It makes for the perfect material to use to 3D print houses.
As AJ points out, the melt-extrusion 3D printers that they employ to fabricate housing infrastructure from plastic waste bear similarities to enormous “hot-glue” guns. Despite the slow processing speed at present, in contrast to the increasing housing demand, the technology is indeed sufficiently advanced to make this a commercially feasible choice. However, what they currently lack are thousands more 3D printers and additive manufacturing facilities. This lack necessitates further investment and capital.
AJ was unambiguous in that he didn’t want to undermine local economies, instead, he aims to enhance them. Rather than importing 3D printed plastic housing infrastructure, AJ’s preference lies in engaging local construction talents and simply modifying the methods, materials, and tools they employ. This approach ensures no local construction industries are harmed and possibly, leads to the creation of even more local jobs.
Plastic waste can be 3D printed into other infrastructure components such as roads and bridges, however, AJ’s prime interest is housing: since a house constitutes someone’s home, it also serves as an asset and raises an individual’s economic status. Providing the ability to say, “There’s no place like home”, to as many people as possible is what drives AJ’s satisfaction in his work.
The Research & Development Tax Credit
The everlasting Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit is obtainable for firms that are creating new or upgraded products, operations, or software.
If a company uses 3D printing, they can enhance their R&D Tax Credits. The wages of tech workers who are occupied in creating, examining, and revising 3D printed prototypes can be integrated as a fraction of eligible time spent for the R&D Tax Credit. Likewise, the duration spent incorporating 3D printing hardware and software as a way to upgrade a procedure is considered an eligible activity. Lastly, if it’s used for modeling and preproduction, the cost of filaments used during the improvement process may also be reimbursed.
Whether it is utilized for crafting and assessing prototypes or for concluding production, 3D printing serves as a useful indicator that activities eligible for R&D Credit are ongoing. Firms that are incorporating this technology at any stage should look into capitalizing on the R&D Tax Credits.
Conclusion
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There is a plastic problem. There is a housing crisis. Thanks to AJ and his team, there is a way to symbiotically approach both problems and create sustainable housing solutions around the world. According to AJ, in the next thirty or forty years, distributive and digital manufacturing methods may yield other strategies (than 3D printing) for using plastic, or other forms of waste, to create infrastructure, globally.
We have to start somewhere.
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