As additive manufacturing (AM) matures, the need for consistent, comparable lifecycle analysis (LCA) data grows more urgent—especially for energy use, material efficiency, and environmental impact. Yet today’s LCA methods vary widely across platforms, materials, and industries, making it difficult to benchmark performance or guide sustainable decision-making.
This discussion invites participants to engage in an open, facilitated discussion aimed at exploring how the AM community might move toward a standardized metric—similar to the Energy Star rating for appliances—that distills complex LCA data into a simple, actionable format.
Together, we’ll explore: What data matters most across the AM lifecycle—and what’s missing How to make LCA results understandable and comparable across technologies What lessons we can borrow from other industries’ rating systems How the AM community can collaborate to shape practical guidance and next steps
This session is designed to surface ideas, share challenges, and identify promising directions—not to deliver final answers. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the landscape and a shared foundation for future efforts to standardize AM sustainability metrics.
Learning Objectives:
Define the key components and challenges of conducting lifecycle analysis (LCA) in additive manufacturing (AM).
Discuss strategies for simplifying and standardizing LCA results to support meaningful comparisons across AM technologies.
Identify collaborative opportunities and best practices from other industries that can inform the development of standardized AM sustainability metrics.
