Thank you, Samuel for your interest in biomimetics in regards to design for
sustainability.
First, please define the context in which you use the word "sustainability".
Healing environment is a good idea if you know what heals it (knowledge of
system ecology is required). Things that grow do not necessarily heal -
cancer cells also grow very well.
To develop a sustainable manufacturing process that mimics
nature.... Yes it is possible. It is called super-organismic
biomimetics/bionics (actually it is our word as we first started to do this
in 1999-2000). To apply the natural principles to the design you need to
define your field of interests more precise (context of your study,
problems you are going to solve) and apply the relevant natural principles
into your context(without mimicking the process as it is useless). To find
relevant natural principles which should help in your context you need deep
knowledge of ecology and general biology, if not - consult the relevant
specialist. Please, do not be inspired by school/uni textbooks, go to the
experts. You will also need the experts who will show you the process of
knowledge transfer from biology into engineering.
Good luck
Regards
Olga, Nikolay Bogatyrev
Research Officers at The University of Bath,
Directors of BioTRIZ Ltd
--On 19 January 2009 12:42 +0000 Samuel Bautista Lazo <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Dear all, I would appreciate your wise advice.
>
> I'm a 23 year old PhD student, I just joined the University of Liverpool
> to do Research in Design for Sustainability.
>
> I really want to do something meaningful with my life, my time and
> energy, that's why I ended up doing research in Design for
> Sustainability.
>
> In my dreams I would like to go even a step further to design and
> manufacture products that heal the environment, I like calling this
> "Grow-ability" (Growing more of the life support systems) mimicking the
> tree that when it grows it is good, it sequesters carbon, it creates
> oxygen, provides habitat to hundreds of species, and so on and so forth,
> but HOW DO I GET TO THE SPECIFICS? HOW COULD BIOMIMETICS HELP ACHIEVE
> GROW- ABILITY?
>
> From my first survey of the literature I sense that most of the efforts
> in Biomimetics are channeled to the design of functionality in products
> and that there is less effort put into biomimetics applied to
> eco-design. Is this picture true?
>
>
> My Idea:
>
> I've been thinking that we may be able to design more sustainable
> products if we can use organic "waste" (like fallen leafs, mowed grass
> from city parks or fodder from farming operations) and transform their
> fibers into carpets for example, or may be clothing. Is this technically
> possible to do while achieving the level of functionality of conventional
> products? Could we design a sustainable manufacturing process that mimics
> nature to create such type of products?
>
> Thank you very much!
> Samuel
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