by Bill Conley — Originally published in the November 2015 issue of FMJ—“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”
(Cue the thunder and lightning.) For those who remember, that was an old television ad for a brand of margarine. I mention this not to assess the pros and cons of butter substitutes, but to expand on the precept that nature is an unforgiving force. Abusing and misusing natural resources such as air, water and earth — the stuff that sustains life — has consequences far beyond human control.
On the flip side of the coin, however, it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. There is a relatively new burgeoning movement called biomimicry: the study of how nature treats and heals itself. The lessons that can be learned from natural processes are both edifying and eye-opening.
Nature as a mentor
Biomimicry is an avenue to innovation and creativity that derives sustainable solutions for human challenges. It does so by observing and replicating time-tested patterns and strategies presented by nature. The results delivered through biomimicry are clean, efficient technologies that bring supply chains — and, through them, society — closer to a sustainable future.
In facility management, an increasing emphasis is being placed on knowledge transfer, preparing new professionals for success in the field. Tools such as benchmarking and best practices are utilized to improve performance based on past successes. Case studies are pored over to derive practical applications in parallel situations. Mentoring is strongly encouraged to pass on tradition through the revelation of lessons learned by trial and error. The advantage of biomimicry lies in allowing nature to lead by example through any or all of these vehicles.
Nature can be a mentor. The idea that nature can serve in this role implies a shift in humankind’s relationship to it. Instead of acting as if people are separate from nature and can treat it indiscriminately, we need to understand and accept that the human race is part of nature. Humans should strive to treat nature as they would have themselves treated.
Instead of being part of the problem, people should attempt to be part of the solution. Modern industry, which drives a large percentage of professional motivation, has been around for less than 200 years. The facility management profession has only been recognized for less than 40 years. Nature has been experimenting and engineering for 3.8 billion years. Over that time, it has learned what works, what is appropriate and what lasts. Failures are fossils.
The results of these eons of experience offer an incredibly large testing sample and incalculable experiments from which FMs can draw conclusions.
Biomimicry is an approach to viewing and valuing nature in a new way. Its precepts are not based on what we can steal from nature to satisfy short-term wants, but on what we can learn from boundless examples of accumulated successes.
Case studies
Most people have heard, or heard about, the “birds and the bees” talk. For many, it is a major part of growing up and/or raising children. It is only logical to recognize that there are other lessons nature has to provide. Biomimicry studies nature’s models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs. Such modeling entails emulating nature’s forms and systems to solve human problems. Animals, plants, insects and even microbes are consummate engineers.
Some miracles of nature come compliments of the spider. Certain spiders protect their delicately crafted insect nets with a special silk rope that reflects ultraviolet rays. It is a technique to keep birds from flying through and destroying their webs. Birds can see the ultraviolet rays and recognize the webs as obstacles they should avoid. Based on that design, a similarly patterned UV reflective coating has been developed that is virtually transparent to the human eye, yet is visible to birds, thus reducing collisions of birds into windows.
Spider silk is known to be one of nature’s strongest materials. It measures five times stronger than steel by weight, yet at the same time it is also flexible and lightweight. Being able to replicate its properties in a cost-efficient manner would be a boon to the construction industry.
Another trait of spider silk is its multiple textures. The material needs to be sticky in order to catch prey, yet smooth on other surfaces so that the spider can move across it. Scientists have created a medical product that mimics this property: a flexible tape that can be peeled off a wound without damaging the tissue underneath. To make the silk-inspired tape, researchers apply a silicon-based film to the backing material and use a laser to etch a grid pattern onto the silicon. The grid allows some parts of the material to adhere to the skin while other areas are not sticky, just like a spider’s web.
From the chemistry of rock-clinging seashells comes formaldehyde-free adhesives. Mussels secrete certain proteins capable of great strength and flexibility. New plywood technology utilizes a non-toxic, soy-based adhesive that replaces urea-formaldehyde in panels used to build cabinets and furniture.
Geckos have long been studied by those interested in biomimicry, primarily because of their seemingly sticky feet. Gecko feet are marvels of evolution, able to keep traction even on glass. Inspired by the intermolecular force that allows animals like the gecko to adhere to surfaces, glue-free carpet installation has become part of the industry. Benefits include no messy glue, and an environmental impact that is more than 90 percent lower than that of traditional glue carpet adhesives. It also eliminates damage to the slab and enables repair and replacement chores to be handled in-house, as needed.
Termites are best known for eating buildings, albeit one little bite ate a time. However, they can also teach professionals how to build a facility. Termite mounds are constructed with the ability to self-cool. They can maintain the temperature inside their nest to within one degree, regardless of external conditions. Much of the energy in a building is consumed to provide climate control; establishing sustainable ways to regulate temperature is an ongoing challenge.
The Eastgate Building, an office complex in Harare, Zimbabwe, implemented a climate-control system modeled on these self-cooling mounds. The building has large chimneys that naturally draw in cool air at night to lower the temperature of the floor slabs, just like termite dens. During the day, these slabs retain the coolness, greatly reducing the need for supplemental air conditioning. Eastgate uses 90 percent less energy for ventilation than conventional buildings its size and it is estimated that more than US$3.5 million dollars have been saved in energy since its construction.
Energy and flow
Natural powered energy, also known as renewable energy, utilizes the forces of nature to deliver power and generate electricity. Biomimicry is a tool that can be applied to these efforts; for instance, creating a solar cell inspired by a leaf.
Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants use chlorophyll to convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen. The humble leaf is singled out because the entire solar industry is based upon replicating photosynthesis as closely as possible, and the leaf is one of the most perfect models.
Scientists are establishing major in-roads in mimicking the leaf. An “artificial leaf” could be used to generate power for off-grid homes in developing areas, and it is anticipated that one such “leaf” could provide enough energy for an entire household. This advanced solar cell is about the size of a poker card and mimics photosynthesis. It is different from current solar technology, which converts sunlight into energy directly.
Instead, this process utilizes water along with the sunlight, much as typical leaves do. The solar cell is placed in a container of water exposed to sunlight, where it splits water into hydrogen and oxygen and stores those gases in a fuel cell. The process would make hydrogen fuel cells an efficient, self-recharging and less expensive way to create and store energy for home and industrial systems.
Naturally flowing liquids, gases and heat follow a common geometric pattern that differs from conventional man-made devices. Nature moves water and air using a logarithmic or exponentially growing spiral as commonly seen in seashells. This pattern is everywhere in nature, from the swirl of galaxies to the shape of the cochlea of inner ears.
Prompted by the way nature moves water and air, this fundamental geometry has been applied to the shape of man-made rotary devices. Depending on the application, the resulting designs have reduced energy usage by anywhere from 10 to 85 percent over standard rotors and the noise of their operation has been reduced by up to 75 percent.
The Shinkansen Bullet Train was so fast that it was violating Japan’s noise ordinances. As it drove through tunnels, air pressure built up in waves and when the train emerged, it produced a shotgun-like thunderclap heard for a quarter mile. An engineer recognized that the kingfisher, a fish-eating fowl, barely creates a ripple when it dives into the water. The train’s nose was redesigned to replicate a 50-foot-long steel kingfisher beak. Now the train just cuts through the air. Not only did this innovation solve the noise problem, it also reduced power use and enabled faster speeds.
Wind turbines are major edifices on the modern landscape. Their blades can scribe circles more than three hundred feet in diameter. Critics see them as blights on the environment: unsightly, view-dominant and hazardous to birds. Turbines have become more powerful, but their size requires that they be spaced far apart, decreasing efficiency and use of resources: a wind farm takes up a lot of land.
A solution to the spacing challenge was found underwater. An experimental wind farm was built in which the location of turbines relative to each other takes advantage of the airflow among them. The turbine placement was determined by studying the wake vortices produced by schools of swimming fish. The 30-foot-tall turbines have twirling vertical blades that gather energy generated as wind flows through the farm. In situating the blades in this fashion, they can take advantage of the wind’s behavior for energy production the way that fish take advantage of the water’s behavior for forward movement. The asynchronous pattern of the turbines minimizes their visual effect.
Inspired by the flippers humpback whales use to enable their surprising agility in the water, turbine blades have been developed with bumps called tubercles on the leading edge. This creates greater efficiency in applications for wind turbines, hydroelectric turbines, irrigation pumps and ventilation fans. Compared to sea life with smooth surface fins, the bumpy humpbacks realize 32 percent less drag and 8 percent increased lift in their movement through air or water. Using such blades to catch the wind for renewable sources could provide a 20 percent increase in efficiency.
Other sea-inspired designs can be derived from the shark. For a beast that moves slowly through the ocean, sharks stay remarkably clear of algae and other fellow travelers. That’s largely a function of their unique skin, covered with microscopic patterns called dentricles that keep microorganisms from adhering to the body. Based on this are bacteria-repellant coatings that can be applied to high-touch areas such as rest room handles, light switches, shopping carts and handrails.
The balance of nature
Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the “rightness” of our innovations. It can be seen as a benchmarking tool utilizing nature as a measure. This entails evaluating designs and solutions against those of nature and determining if current methods are as efficient, simple and sustainable as those found in nature. Challenges should be defined in functional terms and then investigated as to how that function is delivered and utilized in nature.
What goes around, comes around. Biomimicry is a logical conclusion to the shift in humankind’s approaches to nature: from trying to conquer it, to trying to preserve it and most recently, striving for a reconciliation with it. Utilizing biometric principles, it is possible to retain many of civilization’s achievements while rethinking what has been poorly exercised using nature as a guide for improvement and long-term success.
Nature’s journey to its present state brings the phrase “been there, done that” to a whole new level. After billions of years of research and development, failures are extinct and what exists in nature today is the secret to survival. Biomimicry is an integral part of sustainable thinking: proof that following in nature’s footprints is a path well taken.
Bill Conley, IFMA Fellow, CFM, SFP, FMP, LEED AP, is facility manager at Yamaha Motor Corp. in Cypress, California, USA. Prior to that, he served as owner and chief sustainability officer of CFM2, a facility management and sustainability consulting company. Conley has more than 40 years of experience in the facility management profession and has been a proponent of sustainable operations for more than 20 years.
Conley has served on the IFMA board of directors, is a recipient of IFMA’s distinguished member of the year award and has received the association’s distinguished author award three times. He has been a regular contributor to FMJ for 20 years and has authored more than 50 FMJ articles.