Trying to solve problems that the world presents us today with less impact, lower energy consumption, and reduced use of raw materials is the great challenge, and one of the ways to find these answers is biomimicry. Its concept is not just about copying nature, but about making us “learn the intelligence of the mechanisms” and thereby “draw inspiration” from it. In short, biomimicry consists of understanding the mechanisms that govern life and using that understanding to enhance other areas of science, aiming for resource conservation and energy efficiency, for example.
Velcro is one of the most famous examples of creations inspired by biological mechanisms. In 1491, engineer Georges de Mestral was inspired by the seeds of plants from the genus Arctium, of the family Asteraceae, which stuck to his clothes and his dog during their walks in the Alps. Based on this inspiration, he created an alternative to join materials in a simple and reversible way.
Although it is the most well-known, Velcro is not the only example of biomimicry we have. Biomimicry is also used in many architectural projects, one of which is the Eastgate Center, in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, inaugurated in 1996. With a size of 5,600 m² of commercial area, 26,000 m² of office space, and 450 parking spaces, it does not have conventional air conditioning. The differentiated air ventilation system was based on the termite mounds of the country, which maintain their temperature regulated at exactly 30°C (to keep the fungi that are the basis of the termites' diet alive), while the external temperature varies from 1°C (at night) to 40°C (during the day).
The Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe uses passive cooling as its principle and consumes 10% less energy than buildings of the same size. The principle is simple: during the day, the heat from the sun and the machines inside the building is absorbed by the walls of the structure, the building heats up, but not too much. At the end of the day, the temperature drops and the warm internal air rises (being less dense) and with the help of fans through the building's chimney, causing the cooler (and denser) air to occupy the lower parts of the building, thus the fresher air fills the entire building until it reaches a comfortable temperature for the next day.
Trying to reproduce nature's solutions to solve our everyday problems is a smarter and more sustainable alternative, as seen in the examples above. It probably won't be tomorrow that all our challenges will be solved this way, but we need to start looking at nature with new eyes.
References:
http://scienceblogs.com.br/brontossauros/2007/10/os-carrapichos-e-os-velcros/
http://inhabitat.com/building-modelled-on-termites-eastgate-centre-in-zimbabwe/
http://biomimicryinstitute.org/case-studies/case-studies/termite-inspired-air-conditioning.html
