# Biomimicry and the Built Environment, Learning from Nature's Solutions
## 4 Biomimicry and Energy Retrofication  
Several biomimetic technologies aim to learn from the living world to substitute renewable sources' current fuel energy systems, such as solar and wind energies. Providing energy for buildings and cities is one of the major concerns of today's society mainly because of the urgent need to tackle issues raised by climate change and non-strategic urban planning decisions employed in cities within the last couple of decades. Biomimetic has also inspired engineers and designers in the development of non-conventional energy resources, such as learning from plant's photosynthesis process to generate solar cell system [54; 55], mimicking the butterfly wings in solar panel technology [56], mimicking the ferns in creating more efficient electrodes for solar storage systems [57], mimicking the frog nerve rays in producing batteries, mimicking the foam nests of the Tungara frog and red panda digestive enzymes in the production of biofuels [58], mimicking the movement of fish in creating more efficient wind turbine technologies [59] and mimicking the movement of certain fish in the development of ocean driven energy technologies [60]. Several examples of living ecosystems are highly energy-efficient and are often used as the best inspiration for what humans can do to not depend on fossil fuels. Biomimicry offers great potentials for learning from nature and coming up with solutions that lead to a lower level of energy consumption. Four principles are used in biomimicry to reduce the overall energy consumption; 1--decreasing the demand, 2--identifying unlimited sources of energies; 3--sustainable energy distributing systems, and 4--decreasing the non-toxic flows compatible with w wide range of systems. Encycle's SwarmLogic utilizes an exceptional algorithm that lets electric appliances interconnect with one another and save power. Almost all major structures have HVAC systems. However, HVAC systems can be the biggest energy consumer and have the highest cost of building maintenance. Various building equipment is operated in isolation from other equipment, following a single timer or thermostat in the facility. Given that these loads do not communicate with one another, they usually operate simultaneously, needlessly increasing energy usage and rising costs. Bee communication in colonies is an inspiration for a building energy management system. Honeybees interconnect and manage individual behaviors to shape a collective organization that effectively feeds colonies and builds hives. The project developed Swarm Logic to lessen the demand for peak energy utilization by up to 30%. The energy-efficient technology integrates a structure's controls to instantly and dramatically reduce power costs. Controllers of Swarm Logic establishes a wireless mesh network of electric-consuming appliances and enables intercommunication autonomously. The interconnected appliances spread out power demand through a custom algorithm that is inspired by honeybee communication. The outcome is referred to as peak demand shaving. Figure 8: Honeycomb (**left**) and the sandwich structure’s schematic view (**right**) (Source: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-structured_composite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-structured_composite)]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-structured_composite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich-structured_composite))). One of the most well-known examples of biomimicry in reducing energy consumption in buildings is the CH2 building in Melbourne, a six green star building, which was built at a cost premium of 22.1%. However, given that productivity increases of 10.9% from staff attributed to the new building, payback was between 5 and 7 years [61; 62]. In this building, the air is conditioned through the use of cleaned water in the sewage system. This process has been inspired by certain termite species that employ aquifer water as an evaporative cooling mechanism.