“A system is never the sum of its parts, it’s the product of their interactions” – Russell Ackoff
History has shown that nature has already evolved to include solutions to many of the problems that currently exist, and which may arise in the future. The specific aim of the research done in BiSSL seeks to provide solutions to engineering systems problems that result in industry-wide cost savings, increased efficiency and resilience, and reductions of environmental burdens. The results of this work support the view that financial competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience need not be mutually exclusive.
You can hear about applying bio-inspired design to improve the resilience of power grids with Texas A&M Engineering’s podcast SoundBytes Season 1 Episode 29. It was also featured with ASME “How the Food Web Can Keep the Electricity Flowing” (Sep 29, 2020 by Jean Thilmany) and “How Food Webs May Improve Electric Grids” (Dec 5, 2022 by Michael Abrams), as well as Texas A&M’s College of Engineering “Pursuing greater resilience through nature-inspired power grids.”
You can learn about how inspiration from the way ecological food webs function is helping to suggest route for improving our recycling/reuse/waste economy with Texas A&M Engineering’s podcast SoundBytes Season 1 Episode 28.
You can learn more about our search to define sustainability/resilience design guidelines using biological food webs in Texas A&M Engineering News’ article “Following nature’s cue, researchers build successful, sustainable industrial networks” by Vandana Suresh (April 26, 2021)
A summary of the general principles of our work can be found in this video created by Texas A&M’s Mechanical Engineering department.
Environmentally Benign Manufacturing as defined by the National Science Foundation in 2001 is “a system of goals, metrics, technologies, and business practices that address the long-term dilemma for product realization: how to achieve economic growth while protecting the environment.” Simultaneously, events of the last few decades have shown a worrying increase in major environmental and social-health disruptions. We need systems-based solutions, requiring a comprehensive systems approach e.g. the product’s design is formed in conjunction with its logistical systems and reuse possibilities while factoring in flexibility for disruptions. Clearly, this raises the level of design complexity. A framework for such a systems-based approach to balance sustainability and resilience goals is needed.
