Watch my pen biodegrade

Well, most of it anyway.

Bloom Box in our Hometown

Chattanooga has a Bloom Box! The Chattanooga area power utility company, EPB, recently installed a 100kW energy server on the top floor of its parking garage. The device, developed by California-based Bloom Energy, already has ties to this area going back to 2006 when a partnership between Bloom Energy, the UTC SimCenter, EPB and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) conducted the first field trial of the technology.

At the time, the 5 kW test device produced enough electricity to heat and cool a large house. Today, the box installed at the EPB will provide power to about 30,000 square feet of the building. The Bloom Box is a large energy cell powered by natural gas but reconfigurable to be powered by other alternative energy sources. According to Bloom Energy founder Dr. K.R. Sridhar, electricity is produced without combustion and with little to no emissions.

Dr. Sridhar spoke at the unveiling and described a future where Bloom Boxes could provide point-of-use energy generation virtually anywhere. He credited insights gained through research conducted by TVA and UTC for helping make the technology commercially available.

City and state leaders were on-hand and expressed hope that Bloom Energy would consider placing a manufacturing center in the Chattanooga area.

Recycled Carpet on the Shore

A unique geographic feature will be protected by a product that otherwise would be destined for a landfill. Officials in Walton County, Florida, in an effort to prevent oil from the continuing Deepwater Horizon disaster from reaching their beaches, have turned to a recycled carpet product normally used in construction projects. Called GeoHay, it is a highly absorbent barrier made from 100% recycled carpet fibers. Used on construction sites to control erosion, GeoHay is described by the manufacturer as more efficient than typical hay bales and silt fences that degrade and are single-use products. GeoHay can be cleaned and reused over and over in construction situations.

The Walton County Sheriff’s office hopes GeoHay will act as a filter for oil-laden seawater and plans to deploy the barriers around the ecologically sensitive Coastal Dune Lakes. Other areas in Walton County will be protected from oil by conventional booms, silt fences and hay bales. Only five areas in the world are known to have coastal dune lakes.

The petroleum-based recycled fibers are absorbent, durable and non-biodegradable; qualities that make GeoHay particularly suitable to help hold back the potentially devastating effects of the massive oil spill.

Searching for help

We’ve all been stunned by recent images from Haiti. Official numbers aren’t yet available but by current estimates the earthquake that struck last week may have instantly ended 100,000 lives with thousands more at dire risk from injury, disease and hunger.

Beyond hoping for the best, many of us have helped in small but meaningful ways, sending water and medical supplies or making direct donations to relief efforts. Chris Csikszentmihalyi, director of the M.I.T. Center for Future Civic Media recognized the need for people to connect with loved ones in Haiti and applauded news organizations for creating sites to assist people in finding each other. But he also explained in an email to the media that “this excellent idea has been undermined by its success: within 24 hours, it became clear that there were too many places where people were putting information; each site became a silo.”

Social media is a powerful tool for connecting people but only if both people are using the same channel. A volunteer initiative by Google engineers answered Csikszentmihalyi’s call. In 36 hours Google’s missing people finder was created and deployed. The Google widget is embeddable in a blog or website and includes database information from CNN, the New York Times and other news organizations as well as the U. S. State Department. The interface is easy to use, simply click on one of two situational links: “I’m looking for someone”, or “I have information about someone”, and it works in three languages: English, French and Creole. Google even provides an interface to make it easier for developers to upload/download information with the database.

Google’s crisis response page also gathers many resources into one place, providing, among other things, a tool enabling direct donations to UNICEF and CARE for Haitian relief as well as links to many other organizations accepting donations of money and supplies, instructions on how to use text messaging to make monetary donations, resource updates, local media websites and updates through the US State Department. In addition Google Earth provides imagery that anecdotally has been valuable in mapping areas where landmarks have been obliterated and for organizing on-the-ground rescue efforts.

Searching and realizing immediate results is commonplace, unremarkable. Using something familiar in an unexpected context, those same tools and processes are now saving lives and reconnecting frightened families.

Tryk Vids- Designers love Tryk!

In part one of our three part series, we sat down with interior designer Sara Webb of Artech Design Group in Chattanooga, TN and chatted about how she uses Tryk Sustainable Samples in her design process.

Check it out and let us know how Tryk helps in your design process!

Tryk Vids | Sarah Webb | Artech Design Group from Tricycle, Inc. on Vimeo.

Tryk Mod. See More with Less Waste.

Tryk Mod is a life-size modular print that shows every detail without the waste. Used for the first round of sampling choices, digitally tufted Tryks are perfect for design brainstorming, client presentations and archiving.

Tryk Mod is available from J&J & Tandus. Or ask for it, from your other favorite carpet manufacturers.

IceStone® Chooses Tryk for Sampling

A new Tryk hard surface sampling vehicle has been designed and produced for IceStone® 100% recycled glass and cement surfaces. The IceStone swatch deck is a durable and beneficial resource for designers and will be available through its distributors. Tryk utilizes PLA, a compostable plant-based substrate that consumes less energy in production when compared to petroleum-based materials, to provide an environmentally-conscious alternative to traditional sampling.



The Tryk toolkit of sustainable samples and online design tools enables hard surfaces manufacturers such as IceStone to introduce new product to the market and service existing and new customers faster, while reducing the use of natural resources and eliminating the waste of traditional sampling. The swatch deck utilizing Tryk will also be a more portable and space-saving option for both distributors and design studios.

Tryk tools for hard surface products such as stone, wood, ceramic, glass and porcelain tiles evolved naturally from Tricycle’s presence in the soft surface flooring industry. Hard surface products of this nature are generally a financial and environmental burden for companies that receive sample requests from designers and consumers. These sustainable samples are less expensive and much lighter than physical samples; thereby, allowing a larger repeat size to be shown and reducing transportation costs while diverting unnecessary sample waste from landfills. The quick 24 – 48 hour turnaround for a Tryk also saves time and money for manufacturers and designers, the latter who can order a Tryk at no-cost.