The DIY Channel’s new show, “This New House” premieres tonight, July 29th, at 8PM/7C.  If the trailer for the series is any indication, it should be chock full of innovative, high tech products, many of them geared towards energy savings and other aspects of green living.

One of the projects highlighted in the first three episodes is the Cleantech Teaching Center, a state of the art showcase home located in Beverly, MA.  This house features an entirely LED lighting system, rainwater recovery system, geothermal energy, and solar photovoltaic panels.  Sustainable materials were used throughout the interior, including Trend USA’s lovely Trend Q recycled glass tile.  Cleantech Homes, LLC has applied for LEED PLatinum status for the home.

Here is a synopsis of the first episode of the show, titled “Folding Houses” -

This episode is set at the Cleantech House in Beverly, Mass., a showcase of the latest in energy-saving design. Host Kevin O’Connor visits Blu-Homes, a Waltham, Mass., company that’s trying to deliver on the promise of prefab housing by making buildings that fold up for shipping. Licensed contractor and host Amy Matthews goes to Las Vegas, Nev., to see a Department of Energy project that brings a 1960s home up to net-zero modern standards. Kevin explains energy-recovery ventilators and Amy discovers Accoya, a treated wood that lasts for 50 years without needing paint or stain. Kevin goes to the NuCedar factory in Chicopee, Mass., to sees how PVC siding is made. At the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, Amy is off to see a P-trap sink drain that never clogs.

Sounds pretty cool.  I’m familiar with the treated Accoya wood, which is a pretty nifty product, and I’m really curious to find out more about the folding pre-fab houses.  Unfortunately, the DIY Channel is a premium channel on our system, and we’ve never bothered to upgrade since we don’t watch a ton of TV (Yeah, I know that’s kinda green living of us, but in truth, it’s as much about being too busy with work as it is anything more noble).  In any case, if you have a chance to watch it, please let us know what you think in the comments below.  Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can catch up with it some other way.

Mosaic “wallpaper” by Trend USA

1.  Recycled glass takes only 50% of the energy to produce that virgin glass does.

Oceanside Glasstile

2.  Recycled glass  can be made into any form, color, or shape you can imagine.

Bedrock Industries

3.  Glass is truly recyclable, meaning it can be recycled over and over and over again without losing quality.  Paper and many metals can only be recycled a certain number of times before they become unusable (in their original form) due to contaminants or loss of structural integrity.  Plastic is even worse, as it can only be downcycled, meaning it must be converted into a lesser form from the very beginning.

Stone & Pewter

4. Recycled glass is versatile.  It can be used anywhere that ceramic tile can be used, such as walls, countertops, showers, fountains and pools.  It can even be used for flooring.

Hakatai

5.  Every ton of 50% recycled glass saves 250 tons of mining waste.  Imagine the savings when it’s 100% recycled!

Sandhill

6.  Recycled glass is inert, meaning it won’t affect indoor air quality, or add contaminants or chemicals to the interior environment.

So have I got you interested?  Good!  Now, here are a few more things you should know before you run out and replace that grubby old bathroom countertop:

• The post consumer recycled content of glass tiles can vary anywhere from 100% down to about 30%.  Most companies make the information available to you on their website or in information sheets and catalogs, but if you don’t see it anywhere, don’t hesitate to ask.
• Even though recycled glass takes a lot less energy to produce than virgin glass, there is still a significant amount of heat and energy needed to reform it.  Check with the company you’re considering to see if they have any programs in place to either reduce or offset the energy they use in production.
• Recycled glass is BEAUTIFUL.  That being said, it’s typically made using processes that allow for some flaws, bubbles and other quirks of production, so you should enjoy a little “character” in your tile.
• All of the recycled glass tile companies I have highlighted above are located in the United States, although a few of them actually manufacture in other countries.  If you are in another country and know of a good local source for recycled glass tile that you would like to share, please let us know in the comments below.  I love hearing about new sources for good things.

Quality, tradition, sustainability, an artful approach to life and business…  In Terra Home’s rural studio in the heart of Denman Island, in British Columbia, founder Bronwyn Simons pursues all these ideals.  For her sustainability is not just a business practice but a reflection of the philosophy that guides her life.

Beauty in the everyday.  Serenity in a single tile.

After earning a degree in Art History Bronwyn was a mural painter for many years, but sought a way to bring her business home.  So when a client asked her to create hand painted tiles for a home remodeling project Bronwyn started doing custom tile murals, and soon expanded into crafting custom tiles.  Robert Simons, her life as well as business-partner, came on board, and shortly thereafter the business bloomed into a full-fledged ceramics studio.  From work that was mainly focused on painting Terra Home grew into crafting carved and relief pressed tiles, creating custom glazes, exploring alternate firing methods, and most recently, designing hand-built tableware.

She loves collaborating with her clients to “come up with something really unique.”  Her favorite projects are large-scale challenges: an arts and crafts fireplace reflecting local flora, a shower painted as a Costa Rican rainforest, a Moorish fountain.

While developing the design for a new tile, Bronwyn often refers to her own travel photos and sketchbooks… or draws inspiration directly from the natural world around her.  Once a design is finalized she creates a master tile and mold: new tiles are pressed by hand into the mold, dried, given an initial bisque firing in the kiln, glazed with hand-mixed colors, and then fired again to create the finished product.  The result is inevitably not a only a visual treat but soothing to the soul.

“I love the idea that art can be an intimate part of our daily lives, in the construction of our homes, and our mundane functional objects.” Bronwyn said.  “We envision homes that nurture a sense of peace, well being, and beauty for all who enter them, and we envision our tiles becoming part of those homes.”

Having her studio on her own land eliminates a commute, keeps her in touch with her immediate environment, releases time for gardening and home cooking, and allows her to contribute to her community in a meaningful way.  She takes care to craft an eco-friendly product that can be enjoyed for generations.  The studio was built using many salvaged or recycled materials, along with timber sustainably harvest from her own land.  Additionally, the business’ environmental impact is reduced further by the practice of re-using packing & shipping materials.  For Bronwyn, working in a sustainable fashion simply grew out of her lifestyle – which is “modest, rural, artful and ecologically aware” – so that life and work blend seamlessly.

“For me, it all starts with mindfulness,” she said.  “If we are able to stay conscious of our small, daily choices, and make choices that are healthy for ourselves and the earth whenever possible, the cumulative impact will be great…  We need to return economic power to small communities, encourage small-scale local economies,  empower women, and preserve the incredible richness of cultures through traditional craft.”

At their website Terra Home offers hundreds of original ceramic tile and tableware designs.  Ms. Simons may be contacted at info[at]linguaterratile[dot]com or (250) 335-3149, 9AM to 9PM PST.

(clockwise from top) "Gold Coast", "Pompeii", raw safety glass in bag

Quick story – When I was a little girl, I found some broken windshield glass in the alley near our home.  My mother, being the crafty sort at the time, decided to bring it home to experiment with.  Her project, as I recall, involved gluing the pieces of glass around a flower pot for a sort of sparkly mosaic effect.   We’ll never know what the end result might have been, since my toddler sister decided that tempered glass would make a delicious appetizer to the lunch my mother had left the room to make.   Although a frantic trip to the doctor revealed no lasting damage, the great tempered glass experiment quickly made it’s way to the trash, never to be tried again.

I’m so happy that Ellen Blakeley, artist and owner of Ellen Blakeley Studio, had better results!  Just look at the amazing tiles she has created from recycling tempered glass…

"Moss" from the Elements Collection

Using low VOC paints and sanded grout, Ellen Blakeley Studios takes a common material, and transforms it into something special.  Looking like a miniature landscape from a distant planet, the tile has a fascinating sense of depth and movement, created from the juxtaposition of transparent glass and opaque grout.

"After Dark" from the Elements Collection

Because tempered glass is a treated glass, it can’t be recycled by conventional means, so once it breaks it’s done.  Ellen Blakely Studios sources their tempered glass from companies in Northern California that would otherwise simply throw it away, thus making this a great example of trash to treasure!

"Amazon" from the Elements Collection

Perfect for a kitchen or bathroom backsplash, the tiles have been designed for durability, and are available in an amazing assortment of color combinations.   Or send the studio a swatch of your own and ask them to create something completely custom.

One other note – As I have mentioned before, I love it when manufacturers go the extra mile to sample their products in a less wasteful manner.  When I asked Ellen Blakely if she could send me a sample of her studios work, not only did she send me a cool little bag of tempered glass so I could see what the raw material was like (image at top), but both tile samples came with a cork backing so I could use them as coasters!  Now that’s sustainable sampling!

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