Nature as Designer

Biomimicry

Asking nature for advice

What technology is so new you may not have heard of it and at the same time has been around as long as the green leaf and the termite? What technology uses the very latest man-made materials to do a job the way nature has done it for thousands of years? It’s called biomimicry and is defined on Wikipedia.com as follows: “Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a relatively new science that studies nature, its models, systems, processes and elements and then imitates or takes creative inspiration from them to solve human problems sustainably.” Or, as Janine M. Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, put it in an interview  “I’d say that Biomimicry is asking nature for advice.” 

One of the fascinating applications of this new/old technique is found in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Eastgate Centre, a shopping center and office block built in 1996, is ventilated and cooled entirely naturally, using as a model the mounds built by termites. During the day heat is absorbed by the Centre’s materials, which have a high heat capacity. The temperature inside increases very little. At night, warm internal air is vented through the many chimneys, while cool air flows through cavities in the floor to cool both the interior and the building’s fabric. This passive cooling uses only 10% of the energy needed by a similar building with conventional cooling, saving the owners $3.5 million because there is no standard air-conditioning system, and leading to rents 20% lower than expected. The environment benefits also, of course, as fuel is not used for air conditioning and CO2 is not produced.
  It seems so obvious that if nature has figured out a way to do something successfully it would behoove us to copy it; after all, most of the rest of nature has been around a lot longer than we humans have. So why is biomimicry so new? I think it has to do with the cherished human belief that we are apart from nature, its masters and smarter. We think along certain technical lines; we create machines and chemicals that attack a problem, rather than letting nature work for us. Mimicking nature has been the furthest thing from our minds.

It must also be said that state-of-the-art technologies have played a part in both studying and mimicking aspects of nature. At present, another type of termite mound, located underground, with no obvious ventilation system but with constant temperatures and humidity, is being studied to gain information that should help us build energy-saving structures in harsh environments. This study would not be possible without computer technology.

Let us consider another manifestation of biomimicry. It is quite possible that you have a coat or a sofa fabric that makes use of the “lotus effect”. This is the cleansing effect observed on leaves, large-winged insects and water birds, in which drops of water remove bits of dirt as they roll off the surfaces of these living entities. Manufacturers are now making a water-repelling product that is applied to fabrics as nanoparticles. Water drops or staining liquids on the fabrics roll off, often carrying bits of dirt with them. This product replaces fluorocarbons, which were formerly used for making stain and water resistant finishes and which are harmful to the environment.

What is most exciting about biomimicry is that technology and nature are working together rather than fighting each other. Of course it must be asked why we need new technology – why don’t we simply copy nature exactly?

In the case of the Eastgate Centre, copying the termite mounds exactly would produce a building too fragile for us – we are after all considerably larger than termites. It would also require too much constant human intervention to be practical. The termites in their mounds apparently spend a good part of their day closing off and opening channels to maximize the desired effect. We need to relate to nature, not identify with it.

There is a larger lesson as well for us humans in the examples of biomimicry. Simply going back to nature would be neither possible nor desirable for most of us. We humans have, for example, developed to the point where we cannot drink water from most ponds and streams, as do other mammals; we need to clean up our drinking water. Seeing technology as the manifestation of the best of human imagination and putting it to work responsibly is an exciting and creative venture. Using nature willy-nilly for our own ends leads to crises like global warming. Nature strikes back. Working against nature is a losing proposition for both partners; working with it is a win-win situation for both. Let this be the new paradigm for a new age.

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Sources:

Interview by Patti Marxsen for Voices, a publication of the Boston Research Center for the 21^st Century, 2006

www.inhabitat.com