Seeking a potential of low carbon-based energy use for additive manufacturing, we present a preliminary experimental test using open source IoT tools on FDM (Fused Deposit Modelling) type of 3D printing. In our test we determine and categorize the electricity consumption of processes of a commercial grade FDM printer using a custom-built energy monitor. Our tests indicate that this model of FDM type 3D printer consumes between 22%-33% more energy when printing vertical volumes (Z-axis on 3D printing plate). Based on these tests we present a potential for IoT based low carbon FDM 3D printing using open-source data, hardware and software. With this the article’s contribution is two-fold. One as a study on energy and environmental impact of additive manufacturing and secondly as a potential and scope for IoT applications for facilitating low carbon additive manufacturing.