Let's head even farther west to Jackson County where an innovative group of creators and artists have developed a green energy park.

[light music] - All the pieces in here are made using renewable energy resources.

The Jackson County Green Energy Park is a count-led initiative to use various renewable energy resources to bring additional economic development to our community and then also to be able to offer very unique educational opportunities for everyone that wants to come out.

Our blacksmithing forges and our metal foundry are the only ones in the world that run on landfill gas.

Our glass furnaces are the only ones in the U.S. that run on landfill gas.

We destroy about 7,000 tons of methane a year.

It's equivalent to about taking a thousand cars off the road each and every year.

If we were burning propane here instead, we would probably go through $2,000 worth of propane a month just in the glass shop.

We have some amazing artists here at the Green Energy Park.

One young man, Cole Johnson, he was able to go over to study at the JamFactory in Adelaide Australia for two years there.

They only take four people a year out of the world for that scholarship.

He won that two years running.

- When I'm in the hot shop making my work, I'm in a way making a canvas, a blank canvas that I can take into the cold shop.

In Australia I did learn about how to use this specific piece of equipment.

The wheel spins and I hold the piece and I'm almost drawing on the piece with the carving wheel and carving through those layers of color to create pattern and design.

Brock's been on forge and fire.

Brock's an amazing blacksmith.

- Having this facility really allowed me to make a career of it.

The forging process is very gratifying 'cause you know, you're watching that whole thing take each hit, you can see what it's doing.

I've just always been fascinated by arms and armor.

My dad always drew these really elaborate like fantasy scenes with dragons and lawyers.

Just to be able to like create it and not just see it on paper is really cool.

[light music] - The first Saturday of every month at the Green Energy Park we have an open house and we have classes.

- Today is an ax making class, so they'll come in and learn how to make a traditional ax.

- Today I'm gonna just be having a class with people can just come and make a bud vase.

- You come in, it's one-on-one instruction with a professional glass blower.

Us as the instructors, we will do the gathering of the glass from the furnace, but the rest of the class is very hands-on.

You're doing blowing, you're doing shaping.

You're sitting at the bench working the glass with the hand tools.

You look at the numbers up there you can see just how hot this hole is.

- Is that 2100?

- Yeah.

- Both of the instructors, Judy and Josh were amazing, very calm voices and they were right there.

So I knew that I couldn't mess up because they were gonna be right there and fix anything that I was doing wrong.

- We need to really support the Jackson County Green Energy Park because of the way it operates.

- Initially the county here was told by several different entities that they could never do anything here.

That there wasn't enough gas to do anything with, that it wouldn't be profitable, that the gas was too poor quality, and we proved all of those things wrong.

You don't need to be limited by other people or other organizations telling you what will and won't work.

Everyone is welcome to come out here to the Green Energy Park, watch artists work, perhaps take a class, maybe buy a beautiful piece of artwork, or just come out here and learn something new.

- Jackson County Green Energy Park is at 100 Green Energy Park Road, in Dillsboro, and they're typically open Wednesday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, but they do have special events on certain weekends.

To find out more, visit their website at jcgep.org.