Nature Inspires Sustainable Solutions for the Home

Rather than trying to dominate or overrun nature, some companies are being inspired by it, and with good reason. Over eons, nature’s “laboratory” has developed sustainable solutions to life’s challenges.

The process of drawing inspiration from nature has been called biomimicry or biomimetics, with “bio,” meaning “life,” and “mimesis,” meaning “to emulate.” Engineers and scientists are increasingly looking at how nature handles everything from energy and food production to nontoxic chemistry, transportation, and packaging. Nature, for example, offers solutions such as self-cleaning surfaces that do not require detergents, manufacturing processes that use materials that do not leave toxic wastes and use little energy, and antibiotics that do not result in resistant pathogens.

The design approach called biomimicry looks for nature’s strategies, such as maintaining physical integrity; getting, storing, and distributing resources; and making, modifying, or staying put — all without destroying the very system in which they exist. That approach contrasts with long-time product strategies that harvest resources to the point of exhaustion or poison the environment.

But how does this affect the average homeowner/consumer? “Knowing that the natural world is providing inspiration for the technologies and products we all use and purchase is important information to have,” says Sam Stier, director of K-12 and Non-formal Education at The Biomimicry Institute. “It tends to increase people's interest in and respect for the natural world when they know how learning from nature is improving the quality of human life and our environment. This awareness allows you to make decisions about what sort of impact you want to make on the world by your purchases.

Innovation at Work

The toxic residue and unsustainability of certain practices and products have become evident, and natural alternatives are being sought more often. For instance, lead was often used in paint to give it color and a water-resistant coating. But lead-based paint was banned from housing in 1978 because lead is toxic. Since then, safer alternatives have been discovered.

Damaging stormwater runoff is often experienced because of the impermeable surfaces of cities. Taking cues from nature, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now promotes the use of rain gardens and green roofs. These options offer the techniques of infiltrating and evaporating that mimic how water would naturally move through an undeveloped area. In addition, these vegetated areas play into larger ecosystem techniques by improving air quality and reducing “heat islands,” those concrete and asphalt metropolitan areas significantly warmer than their greener surroundings.

Here’s one example. The tenacity of the blue mussel inspired the development of a formaldehyde-free wood glue. The shellfish secretes filaments that contain a unique combination of amino acids that give it super-sticking powers. Using that as a basis, Columbia Forest Products, the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, and Hercules Inc. (now Ashland Hercules) cooperatively developed what has become the patented PureBond® technology, which closely resembles the mussel’s important proteins and uses inexpensive, accessible soy. With that technology, Columbia Forest Products was able to eliminate urea-formaldehyde, a recognized human carcinogen, from its hardwood plywood products.