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Introduction to Sustainable Development for Engineering and Built Environment Professionals
Unit 2 - Learning the Language
Lecture
7: The Concept of Biomimicry – An Historical
Context
Quite
simply, Biomimicry is the art of asking Nature
for advice.
Janine Benyus, Author of Biomimicry: Innovation
Inspired by Nature, 2004[1]
To
introduce the emerging field of Biomimicry and explain
why it is such a powerful tool for innovation. Building
on from knowledge gathered over centuries of harvesting
and harnessing nature, engineers and designers
are now exploring the exciting field of emulating
nature’s successes to assist sustainable development.
Biomimicry is a tool for innovation to assist engineers
and designers to move past efficiency and design
sustainable systems learning from nature.
Benyus,
J. (1997) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by
Nature, HarperCollins, New York, Chapter 1.
Available at http://www.biomimicryguild.com/janinefirstchap.html.
(10 pages), pp 1-10.
Hargroves, K. and Smith, M.H. (2005) The Natural
Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation
and Governance in the 21st Century, Earthscan,
London:
-
Chapter 1: Natural Advantage of Nations, ‘A
Critical Mass of Enabling Technologies’
(2 pages), pp 19-20.
Hargroves,
K. and Smith, M.H. (2006) ‘Innovation inspired
by nature – Biomimicry’, ECOS Magazine,
129. Available at http://www.naturaledgeproject.net/Documents/Biomimicry_000.pdf.
(3 pages), pp 27-99.
1. Long ago, as hunters and gatherers, humans relied
on their knowledge of natural systems to harvest
food and materials for hunting, cooking, shelter
and clothing. This knowledge accumulated and was
passed on from generation to generation as we learnt
more about natural systems, and how to make optimal
use of their patterns and seasons.
2. As our knowledge of natural systems increased,
we began to domesticate, or harness, those organisms
that we needed, through farming and domestication
of plants and livestock.
3. With this security in meeting basic human needs,
societies began to consider higher applications
to process nature’s raw materials. Building
materials, weapons and cooking equipment were the
early applications of harnessing nature. This eventually
led to applications where natural resources were
harnessed through more advanced processing technologies,
such as the Industrial Revolution’s practices
of metallurgy, petrochemicals, internal combustion
and manufacturing.
4. Once we realised that we could make value-added
products from nature’s raw resources, we began
paying less attention to natural systems, seeing
them more as a source of inputs for our products
and services. However, by paying little attention
to the impact of our new solutions on natural systems,
combined with the rapid increase in the scale of
‘human systems’ on the planet, we have
now actually exceeded the planet’s carrying
capacity - in effect we are destroying the world
that we have been creating.
5. Most of the solutions from the last 300 years
have been poorly adapted (or mal-adapted) to natural
ecosystems. In fact, many of these ‘solutions’
have lead to significant global challenges such
as those caused by the creation and dispersion of
pollution.
6. Faced with the need to address these challenges,
engineers and designers will be tempted to emulate
the way humans have problem-solved, rather than
asking Nature’s advice. A Patent Database
developed by Russian researchers working on the
Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch (TRIZ)[2]
method for inventive problem solving uncovered an
overlap of a mere 10 -12 percent between man-made
and natural systems. As Janine Benyus puts it, ‘when
we look to Nature, 90 percent of the time we will
be surprised!’[3]
7. If we are to achieve harmony between development
and nature on a global scale, we need to combine
our engineering knowledge with the knowledge contained
in natural systems, rather than resources extracted
from it; to deliver solutions that are well-adapted
to our global environment ... in other words, innovation
inspired by nature.
8. Innovation from nature can be drawn from a number
of areas. We could pay attention to:
-
The structure, or form, of nature -
aerodynamic shapes, non-chemical adhesive methods
and structural finishes and colour.
-
The process of nature - cooling systems,
nutrient cycling, filtration, desalination and
energy supply and storage.
-
Nature’s ecosystem - feedback
loops, diversity, organism niches and interactions,
symbiotic relationships, food webs, energy and
material flows, resilience, and the role of
redundancy.
9. Examples of innovations inspired by nature’s
form include:
-
Velcro®: Studying cockleburs
under a microscope led to the observation that
their natural hook-like shape could be emulated
to design the popular adhesive material, Velcro.
- Gecko
Tape®:
Studying the way that gecko lizards walk on
surfaces led to the observation that the soles
of their feet could be emulated to produce a
new type of adhesive (‘gecko tape’).
-
Vortex Generator:
Studying the structure of wing plumage in owls
led to the discovery that the design of the
feathers could be emulated to design a surface
that minimises turbulence in air, significantly
reducing noise from Japanese high speed train
(shinkansen) operations.
-
Stomatex:
Studying the function of stomata in leaves led
to the discovery of a fabric that can provide
passive humidity control. It was originally
developed for bandage and apparel fabrics, but
also has applications in building envelope and
horticulture. Stomatex® has applications
in building components such as soft walls, roof
linings or curtains to facilitate humidity control.[4]
10. ‘Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life,
and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a science that
studies nature's ideas and then imitates these designs
and processes to solve human problems.’[5]
As Benyus explains, ‘This includes studying
nature’s best ideas, designs and strategies
that have evolved over 3.8 billion years and then
emulating them so that we might live more gracefully
on the planet’.[6]
11. In engineering terms, Biomimicry describes the
enquiry-based process of studying and mimicking
the design and behaviour of nature, to inform the
development of solutions that meet the needs of
society while being in harmony with the planet’s
natural systems.
12. Biomimicry involves asking ourselves a series
of questions to help focus on which part of nature
we want to emulate. These include for example:
-
How do we evolve more sophisticated approaches
than ‘heat, beat and treat’ in manufacturing?
-
How do we design more sophisticated energy production
such as solar cells? (i.e. by mimicking the
way that plants harness solar energy so efficiently
for their energy needs)
-
How do we create renewable fuels such as turning
cellulose into ethanol in a climate neutral
manner? (i.e. by mimicking the way termites
process cellulose)
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Brief
Background Information |
Understanding
Natural Systems
Human
ingenuity may make various inventions, but it
will never devise any inventions more beautiful,
nor more simple, nor more to the purpose than
Nature does; because in her inventions nothing
is wanting and nothing is superfluous.
Leonardo
Da Vinci
If
one way be better than another, that you may be
sure it is Nature's way.
Aristotle
Sustainable
business strategies have previously focused on making
industries more efficient such as using less waste,
less energy, less material. This is an important
first step, but without system change, it can still
lead to deteriorating natural systems. Old-economy
‘treatment’ industries (e.g. waste management,
potable water supply, etc.) have attempted to mitigate
and manage the pollution and waste as an ‘end
of pipe’ approach to system deterioration,
but engineers and designers are now realising that
this is not a sustainable approach.
So how do we innovate to truly achieve sustainability?
Consider that for the majority of our time on the
planet as a species, we have been hunters and gatherers.
As hunters and gatherers (harvesting nature)
and then as agrarians through pre-industrial times
(harnessing nature), we paid a great deal
of attention to natural systems as a source of knowledge,
as Janine Benyus puts it, ‘we naturally
mimicked the organisms that we admired’.
As our knowledge of natural systems increased, we
began to harness those organisms that we needed,
then to process nature’s raw materials to
produce products and services (for example through
agricultural practices, and steel and plastics manufacturing).
Once we realised that we could make value-added
products from nature’s raw resources, we began
paying less attention to natural systems, seeing
them more as a source of inputs for our products
and services. As we transitioned from organism domestication
to mass production and industrialisation we adopted
the mindset of ‘animal as factory’.
Today, when we try to address problems arising from
old-economy technologies (such as filtration, adhesion,
desalination, energy harvesting), we tend to study
the way human’s have problem-solved, rather
than looking to nature for advice. However, combining
our knowledge of processes with our knowledge of
natural systems, we now have the opportunity to
build products and services that are in harmony
with natural systems, we can create ‘Biomimetic’
solutions.
When we view nature as a source of advice rather
than goods, the rationale for protecting wild species
and their habitats also becomes self-evident. To
have more people realise this is Janine’s
hope. In the end, she is confident that Biomimicry’s
greatest legacy will be more than a stronger fibre
or a new drug. It will be gratitude, and from this,
an ardent desire to protect the genius that surrounds
us. Janine and her team are working to seed an ‘Innovation
for Conservation’ program in which companies
donate a percentage of the sales of bio-inspired
products to restore the habitat of the organism
that inspired the breakthrough.
Figure 7.1 summarises these transitions in human
knowledge and the potential for Biomimicry to assist
us in designing in harmony with natural systems.
Figure
7.1. Natural Systems Understanding Map,
showing the relationship between systems knowledge,
enquiry, and the application of Biomimicry to human
systems.
Source:
The Natural Edge Project, Biomimicry Guild (2006)
Biomimicry - Case Study Examples
Velcro®: Getting home from
a walk in the 1940s, Swiss inventor George de Mestral
noticed both his clothes and dog were covered with
cocklebur seeds. De Mestral studied the cockeburs
and discovered they used hook-like spines to grip
onto a softer surface, like the fabric of his pants.
Inspired, de Mestral recreated this natural hook
design and opposed it with the soft loop design
that made up the fabric of his pants. The result
was Velcro®, and its arrival heralded a new
era of easy access clothing. It's nothing new for
designers and inventors to look to nature for creative
solutions and ideas, but now this science and design
practice is being recognised as a field in its own
right – biomimicry – and is quickly
gaining momentum.
Gecko Tape®: University of
Manchester Scientists developed a new type of adhesive
which mimics the mechanism employed by the gecko
lizard to walk on surfaces – even glass ceilings.
The new adhesive (‘gecko tape’) contains
numerous tiny plastic fibres, less than a micrometer
in diameter, which are similar to natural hairs
covering the soles of gecko’s feet. These
generate elecro-dynamic adhesion at a microscopic
level. One square centimetre of the gecko tape can
support a weight of one kilogram. In addition to
a general adhesive, it can be used to move computer
chips in a vacuum and pick up small fibres. The
tape can be used several times over and does not
use toxic chemicals found in common adhesives.
Vortex Generator: The 500-Series
Shinkansen Japanese bullet train running between
Tokyo and Hakata is one of the fastest trains in
the world. The challenge for the design of the Shinkansen
design team was to make it run quietly at high speed.
Learning that the owl family is the most silent
and stealthy fliers of all birds, the Shinkansen
team discovered the bird’s secret is in its
wing plumage design – many small saw-toothed
feathers protrude from the outer rim of their primary
feathers. Other birds do not have these feathers.
These saw-toothed wave feathers are called ‘serration
feathers’ and they generate small vortexes
in the airflow that then break up the larger vortexes
that produce noise. ‘Serrations’ were
inscribed on the main part of the pantograph (the
collectors that receive electricity from the overhead
wires), and this succeeded in reducing noise, enough
to meet world standards for noise. This technology
is now called a ‘vortex generator’ and
has been applied to aircraft, as well as now being
applied to the caps and boots of professional skaters.
Stomatex: Nigel Middleton, a dentist,
was looking for a way to improve bandages. The issue
with bandages is that they offer virtually no ventilation
and thus promote sweating, which can irritate the
skin and create a poor healing environment.[7]
Middleton looked to nature for a solution and asked,
how does nature remove moisture? A leaf’s
surface is covered in tens of thousands of stomata,
small ‘mouths’ that regulate the exchange
of water vapour, other gases and heat between the
leaf and the immediate environment.[8]
Middleton and his colleague Tome Armstrong[9]
mimicked the function of stomata in a smart material
called Stomatex®, a honeycombed foam that removes
sweat from skin. When moisture begins to accumulate,
the vapour is collected in the air space provided
by dome-shaped chambers in the material. A tiny
pore at the centre of each chamber then opens and
releases the vapour before it condenses into a liquid.
This mechanism maximises vapour diffusion and, since
there aren’t any large holes, minimises heat
loss. Stomatex® has also been applied to clothing
fabrics and building components such as soft walls,
roof linings or curtains to facilitate humidity
control.
-
Benyus, J. (1997) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired
by Nature, HarperCollins, New York.
- The Natural Edge Project and Biomimicry Guild
(2006) Australian Tour 2006 Resources.
Available at www.naturaledgeproject.net/BenyusTour06.aspx.
Accessed 3 January 2007.
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Key
Words for Searching Online |
Bio-Utilised,
Bio-Assisted, Bio-Mimicked, Biomimicry, Adaptation,
Ecosystem, Design inspired by Nature
[1]
Boston Research Centre (BRC) (2004) Video Interview
with Janine Benyus - Author, Biomimicry: Innovation
Inspired by Nature. Available at http://www.brc21.org/carson/benyus_clips.html.
Accessed 26 November 2006). (Back)
[2]
For a background on TRIZ see What is TRIZ?
at www.triz-journal.com/whatistriz.html.
Accessed 3 January 2007. (Back)
[3]
Benyus, J. (1997) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired
by Nature, HarperCollins, New York. (Back)
[4]
Lloyd, C. (1995) ‘Taking a leaf from Nature’s
book’, Sunday Times, May 1995. Available
at http://www.stomatex.com/news.htm.
Accessed 26November 2006. (Back)
[5]
See The Biomimicry Guild at http://www.biomimicryguild.com/indexguild.html.
Accessed 3 January 2007. (Back)
[6]
Benyus, J. (1997) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired
by Nature, HarperCollins, New York. (Back)
[7]
Lloyd, C. (1995) ‘Taking a leaf from Nature’s
book’, Sunday Times, May 1995. Available
at http://www.stomatex.com/news.htm.
Accessed 26November 2006. (Back)
[8]
Biomimicry Guild, n.d. Biomimicry Database –
Stomata. Available at http://database.biomimicry.org/.
Accessed26 November 2006. (Back)
[9]
Lloyd, C. (1995) ‘Taking a leaf from Nature’s
book’, Sunday Times, May 1995. Available
at http://www.stomatex.com/news.htm.
Accessed 26November 2006. (Back)
The
Natural Edge Project Engineering Sustainable Solutions
Program is supported by the Australian National Commission
for UNESCO through the International Relations Grants
Program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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