The Third Industrial Revolution

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The Cover Story of the current issue of Economist is The Third Industrial Revolution. The (1) is an introduction to a special report of seven essays, including (2). There is no need to read the rest of either.

(1) Manufacturing | The Third Industrial Revolution; The digitisation of manufacturing will transform the way goods are made—and change the politics of jobs too. Economist, Apr 21, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/node/21553017

The first two paragraphs:

"THE first industrial revolution began in Britain in the late 18th century, with the mechanisation of the textile industry. Tasks previously done laboriously by hand in hundreds of weavers’ cottages were brought together in a single cotton mill, and the factory was born. The second industrial revolution came in the early 20th century, when Henry Ford mastered the moving assembly line and ushered in the age of mass production. The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and more urban. Now a third revolution is under way. Manufacturing is going digital.

"A number of remarkable technologies are converging: clever software, novel materials, more dexterous robots, new processes (notably three-dimensional printing) and a whole range of web-based services [plus 3-D printing].

(2) Materials | Forging Ahead; Manufacturers are increasingly working with new, game-changing ingredients. Economist, Apr 21, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/node/21552895

Two consecutive paragraphs:

"Another surprisingly strong material could be made from what people throw out. Arthur Huang, the co-founder of Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development, based in Taiwan, trained as an architect in America. He is making building materials from re-engineered rubbish. One product, Polli-Brick, is a block resembling a square bottle made from recycled PET plastic, which is widely used to make food and drink containers. Because of their shape, Polli-Bricks can lock together without any adhesive to form structures such as walls. These, says Mr Huang, are strong enough to withstand a hurricane, but greatly reduce the carbon footprint of a building and are about a quarter of the price of traditional building materials. Moreover, as they are translucent they can have LED lighting incorporated in them.

"Another of Mr Huang’s materials is a natural bonding agent extracted from discarded rice husks. This can also be added to help set concrete. The idea is not exactly new; as Mr Huang points out, something similar was added to the mortar used to build the Great Wall of China. He thinks mainland China with its building boom could once again be a big market for this product. A similar material can be extracted from the barley husks left over from brewing. Mr Huang’s vision is for the system to be used in local communities to turn rubbish into useful products.

Note:
(a) Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development Ltd
http://www.miniwiz.com/

(i) The pull-down menu of the "MATERIALS" button at the top horizontal bar displays
(A) rice cement: "Typically, high performance concrete (HPC) requires performance enhancers, such as silica additives. Instead of using the typical fly ash or silica fume which have a highly inconsistent composition, MINIWIZ's RICE Cement uses silica derived from agricultural waste"
(b) Polli-Ber: "a new class of composite polymer material manufactured from recycled plastic and processed agricultural waste"
(ii) the pull-down menu of PRODUCTS shows "Shelter: [among others] Polli-Brick."
http://www.miniwiz.com/miniwiz/en/products/shelter/polli-brick
(c) Arthur Huang (MArch '04) of Miniwiz Named NYC Venture Fellow. Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Feb 22, 2012.
http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/new ... venture-fellow.html