Biomimicry

DESIGNING A SUSTAINABLE
FUTURE USING NATURE’S
GENIUS
ADIEL GAVISH
Sustainability Strategist
The Living Business
Environmental Strategies that are Time Tested, Nature Approved
(914) 494-1646
Adiel.Gavish@gmail.com
 Outline

 Solutions for a Sustainable Future

 Why are Nature’s Solutions Needed Today?
 What is Biomimicry
 What are Nature’s Life Principles?
 Systems Design- The Fundamentals
 “Product” and Service Design- The Building Blocks
 Biomimicry Examples
 How to Think/Design Like a Biomimic
 What is Not Biomimicry?
 Nature’s Genius and Human Innovation
 Solutions for a Sustainable Future

What does “green” really mean?

 We need a sustainability standard and baseline
 Benchmark and foundation for “green” design
 What does a sustainable future look like?
Business
School
Buildings
Agriculture
Factories
Energy infrastructure
 Why is it Especially Important Today?

Problem: Global Climate Change- the issue of

our lifetime.
 We inherit the Earth from our fathers and mothers,
but borrow it from our children.
Today’s society was built with unsustainable
design principles.
 Why is it Especially Relevant Today?

“You can’t solve problems using the same thinking

that created them.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Design is the first signal of human intent.”
~ William McDonough, architect and author of “Cradle to
Cradle”
 What is Biomimicry?

 Biomimicry is a new science which studies nature's

best ideas and principles, and imitates these
designs and processes to solve human problems.
 What is Biomimicry?

Nature has been conducting research and design

for billions of years.
What you see today is what works, what lasts, and
what we should be doing to make our systems
environmentally friendly, and ecologically,
socially and economically sustainable for
generations to come.

The answers are just outside your door…

 What is Biomimicry?

The Earth
Resume
 
Address: Third planet from the sun
E-Mail: Gaia@Earthlink.net
 
Education:        The University of the Universe 
          Dates: Hadeon Eon to the Present
 
Work Experience:

 3.85 billion years of research and development
 Supporting all species with air, water, and land
 Helping approx. 5-30 million species work together
 What is Biomimicry?

The Earth is the best consultant you could hire.

Let’s hire the sun, wind, and water!
AND the 5-30 MILLION species on the planet!

"Nature is full of solutions

looking for problems to solve."
~Christopher Viney
 What is Biomimicry?

Seeing nature as
 Model
 Mentor
 Measure
 What is Biomimicry?

 Model
The baseline and the standard of green design.
Imitating nature’s systems design, processes and strategies to live
sustainably.
Tells us what those best practices are.
 What is Biomimicry?

 Mentor
Nature has been conducting research and design for 3.85
billion years. Learning from nature, valuing her lessons as the
ultimate teacher.
“Nature: the Guru of GreenTM”!
Solutions that are “Time Tested and Nature Approved”.
Survival is a great incentive for innovation.
Nature IS a creative problem solver.
Can provide guidance and give us the blueprints for sustainable
deign.
 What is Biomimicry?

Seeing nature as Mentor, Model and Measure

 Measure

What would nature do?

Does my system do that?
Nature as an ecological standard.
 What is Biomimicry?

Why Nature?
 It carries in its DNA a pattern for innovation, improvement
and efficiency.
 The fundamental elements of a sustainable system.
Nature’s Life Principles- The Fundamentals
Nature’s Life Principles- The Fundamentals

Life Learns, Grows, Adapts and Evolves

 There is no such thing as perfection
 Continuous feedback
 Innovation
 Nature’s Life Principles

#1 Optimizes rather than maximizes

 Uses multi-functional design
 Fits form to function
 Nature’s Life Principles

Who am I? I…
 Make oxygen
 Store carbon
 Fix nitrogen
 Distill water
 Make complex sugars and food
 Accumulate solar energy as fuel
 Create micro climates
 Self replicate
Nature’s Life Principles
 Nature’s Life Principles

#2 Acts independently

 Recycles all materials- waste equals food
A tree is like a vertically integrated business.
 Fosters cooperative relationships
 Self-organizing
 Nature’s Life Principles

# 3 Manufacturers it’s own needs

 Life-friendly materials
Benign manufacturing
 Water-based chemistry
 Self-assembly

Elegantly grows from the bottom up

 Nature makes itself

 Not manufactured elsewhere

 Biomimicry Examples
A Lotus Leaf and Non-Toxic Cleaning Surfaces
 The surface of a lotus leaf has a network of nano-sized
bumps that are key to the plant's ability to self-clean.
Unlike smooth surfaces, which can cause water to spread
and cling, dirt teeters on the tops of the microscopic
structures, so when it rains, the water balls up, instead
of spreading out, and rolls off the leaf, picking up
loose dirt particles.
 Surfaces can be cleaned without the use of detergents or
sandblasting. In addition, Lotusan is algae-, mold- and
mildew-resistant.
 Lotusan has been used mostly
on commercial buildings, which
require no power washing with toxic
cleaners to keep looking
as fresh and shiny as a lotus
leaf.
 Nature’s Life Principles

#4 Resourceful and Opportunistic

 Shape rather than material
Builds from the bottom up
 Simple, common building blocks
 Free energy- The sun! Harvested rather than generated.
 Biomimicry Examples

A Mollusk Shell and Cooling Design

 A three-dimensional logarithmic spiral is found in
the shells of mollusks, and in the shape of our
own skin pores, through which water vapor
escapes. Liquids and gases flow through
these flow forms with far less friction and
more efficiency. PAX Scientific (USA) has
designed fans, propellers, impellers, and aerators
based on this shape.

 The technology can reduce energy

requirements in fans
and other rotors from between 10 and 85% and
reduces noise by up to 75%.
It could also lead to
improvements in industrial mixers, water pumps,
marine propellers, and
devices for circulating
blood in the body.
 Nature’s Life Principles

#5 Uses cyclical processes (vs. linear)

 Feedback loops
Ex: Falling leaves are fertilizer for the tree
The carbon cycle
The water cycle
Seasons
 Nature’s Life Principles

#6 Durable-Tough
 Diverse- Natural law to lessen risk
Ex: A forest vs. an agricultural crop
 Decentralized and distributed
 Surplus- if one system fails, there’s a back up.
 Biomimicry Examples

 Spider Silk
 Its remarkable stiffness and strength have long attracted scientists wishing to
replicate it for industrial uses.
 "Nature is not using silk to hold up heavy loads for long periods of time.“
~Christopher Viney
 Studying uses for silk that would only require it to work its magic once.
Reinforce aircraft luggage holds for bomb proofing
passively reinforce high pressure areas such as boilers in steam plants or submarine
engines.
 Biomimicry Examples

PUMA CELL ARANE SNEAKER

Tension vs. Compression for Strength
 PUMA turned to nature for inspiration-the spider's web. The
PUMA Cell Arane shoe rests on a unique A-frame "spider web"
design that is incredibly strong for its weight and provides tensile
cushioning. Unlike traditional cushioning systems built on
compression, PUMA's Cell Arane shoe utilizes tension (think:
hammock) to create a comfortable, cushioned ride with enhanced
resistance to impact.
 Biomimicry Examples

A Termite Mound and Temperature Control

 The Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe uses the same heating
and cooling principles as a local termite mound. Termites in
Zimbabwe build gigantic mounds where they farm a fungus for food.
The fungus must be kept at 87 degrees, while the temperatures
outside range from 35 (f) to 104 degrees (f). The termites achieve this
remarkable feat by constantly opening and closing a series of
heating and cooling vents throughout the mound all day.
 The building uses less than 10 percent of the energy of a
conventional building its size. The owners saved $3.5 million on a $36
million building because an air-conditioning plant didn't have to be
imported. Rents are 20 percent lower than the new
building next door.
 Nature’s Life Principles

An equation for unsustainable design

vs.
An equation for sustainable design
 Nature’s Life Principles
An equation for sustainable design

Un-Sustainable Sustainable Design Benefits of

Design Principles Principles Sustainable Design
Linear systems Cyclical Systems No waste, re-use resources, re-
invest in yourself
Homogeny & Uniformity Diversity Risk adverse, stronger, resilient

Unbalanced Balanced/Self-Sustaining Less management/energy

Maximization of resources Optimization of resources Can be replenished

Heat, beat and treat Utilize Shape More energy efficient, no toxins
involved
Heat, beat and treat Self Assembly No toxins in "manufacturing"
process
Cheapest source Locally Sourced Less resource intensive, less
pollution from transportation
Disposable Biodegradable Energy is re-used in a positive
way
Stagnant Adaptable Resilient to outside forces
 Nature’s Genius and Human Innovation

The Formula for a Sustainable Future

Intellectual Capital + Nature’s Genius = Innovative, Sustainable Solutions

 How to Think Like a Biomimic

 IDENTIFY the real challenge

 What do you want to “do” (not “make”)
 INTERPRET
 Identify the functions/purpose
 How does nature do that function?
 DISCOVER nature’s genius
 Go for a walk outside and observe and brainstorm
 ABSTRACT
 What patterns and principles work for your problem
 EMULATE - IMITATE
 Play and design
 Brainstorm and converse
 EVALUATE the design more deeply
 How to Think Like a Biomimic

Re-Think and Re-Imagine!

 Holistic thinking in order to solve the entire problem.
Companies are re-defining themselves to solve the problem.
Focus is on the service rather than the product, because products
are really services.
 Oil companies are now energy companies

 Car companies are now transportation companies

 What is Not Biomimicry?

Over-harvesting a natural product

 Palm tree oil farms
Devastating to the forests
Using extreme genetic engineering
 Splicing “silk” gene into a goat to produce silk proteins in
milk
Unnatural
If it does not exist in nature, there is a reason
Using heat, beat and treat methods
 The use of fossil fuels- oil and coal
 Making ceramics with clay, kiln at hot temps
Lots of energy used
 Nature’s Genius and Human Innovation

“We are not retreating.

We are advancing in another direction.”
~General Douglas MacArthur

 It is not going backwards- but in fact drawing from

nature’s reservoir of design knowledge.
 Design a sustainable future that is equitable for every
being on the planet.
 Biomimicry is a tool that helps us re-imagine the world
we want our children to inherit.
 A new era of innovation inspired by nature.
Nature’s Genius and Human Innovation

We are only limited by our dreams.