Transitions - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 106

Figure S3.1 Living machine.
Courtesy of DOE/NREL, photo by Robb Williamson, NREL Pix
#10871.
treatment plant in four basic respects * :
1. The vast majority of a living machine's working parts are living organisms.
Like the treatment plant, bacteria are involved, but a living machine
includes hundreds of species of bacteria, plants, and vertebrates such as
fish and reptiles. That is, it is a regenerative and diverse system.
2. A living machine has the ability to self-design its internal ecology in
relation to the energy and nutrient streams to which it is exposed. That
is, it is an adaptive system.
3. A living machine can self-repair when damaged by toxics or when
shocked by interruption of energy or nutrient sources. That is, it is
a resilient and elastic system.
4. A living machine can self-replicate through reproduction by the organ-
isms in the system. That is, it is a sustainable system.
* Kilbert, Sustainable Construction , Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.