Fundamental characteristics identified via observation of the inherently sustainable biosphere can inform and guide environmentally benign design and manufacturing (EBDM). In support of this premise, this paper identifies characteristics, extracts biological principles, translates them into guidelines for EBDM, and briefly reports on their application in situations of engineering interest. It outlines and illustrates the use of constant comparative method (CCM) to identify and extract fundamental biosphere characteristics from biology and ecology literature. Then, it translates these biological principles into general guidelines with associated metrics. To illustrate the efficacy of this approach, bio-inspired metrics are used for the purposes of assessing micro/nanoscale self-cleaning surfaces and designing a carpet tile recycling network. These efforts suggest that learning the phenomena responsible for the biosphere's inherent sustainability can yield insight into EBDM.
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