Green Florida

About three miles from downtown Sarasota is a remodeled 2,100-square-foot home on the market for $750,000. It’s a beauty, all right, but plenty of remodels in the Tampa Bay area are lovely to look at. This one, however, is pretty and smart.

By that we mean the home is one of just a handful of remodels to have been certified by the Florida Green Building Coalition for environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.

The previously unremarkable structure started life as a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom block home typical of those built in Florida during the 1950s and 1960s. But last year, MyGreenBuildings, a custom home/design firm in Sarasota, transformed it into a "prototype green rebuild."

Partners Steve Ellis and Grant Castilow wanted to show what could be accomplished when you start with a very basic existing structure and then add "all the bells and whistles." For their efforts, they received a prestigious Grand Aurora Award, which was presented at the 2007 Southeast Building Conference in Orlando.

"The green stuff, we’re going to do it whether you ask for it or not," Ellis says. "The only way we wouldn’t is if you specifically tell us not to."

By "green stuff," he means using energy-efficient windows, non-toxic paint, paperless drywall and assorted other earth-friendly products. He also means designing the home to maximize sunlight and cross breezes while minimizing solar heat gain.

The benefits from this kind of remodel are hard to ignore; you’ll be exposed to fewer chemicals, pay lower utility bills and spend less time and money on home maintenance. Plus and here’s a biggie considering the current state of the Florida housing market—when it comes time to sell your home, it will likely sell faster and for more money.

Plus, as a bonus, you’ll get to brag about how you’ve done your part to save the earth.

"Environmentally responsible remodeling is at the forefront of the entire green industry," says Drew Smith, president of Two Trails, a consulting firm that focuses on green building. "We’re pushing green construction in new homes when, really, renovation and remodeling is potentially even larger and more important."

Smith spends much of his time trying to educate Realtors and building industry professionals about the significance of the green building movement. Smith’s company even offers an educational program called Green Building University.

"Remodeling an older home using green techniques and technologies can be more environmentally responsible than building a new home using those same technologies and techniques," Smith continues.

That’s because new construction uses more resources and more energy and produces waste that’s eventually dumped into landfills. Remodeling, on the other hand, uses of some of the home’s existing materials, which means fewer new products must be manufactured and shipped and less waste must be disposed of.

Think of a green remodel as a larger-than-usual recycling effort. You’re reusing—and improving—an existing product. That’s certainly how Ellis and Castilow see it, which is why they decided to retrofit a home that would probably have been demolished otherwise.

To make it work, they used eco-friendly building materials and products including salvaged doors, soy-based insulation and kitchen cabinets made from recycled pallets.

All well and good. But what if you don’t have the kind of remodeling budget that Ellis’ team had? And what if you don’t want to give up those stunning granite countertops or spray soy inside your walls?

Maybe you don’t have to. As Ellis points out, if you do incur higher upfront costs, they’ll be recouped over time because you’ll be saving money on utility bills.

"It’s true that green materials often cost more than conventional materials," he says. "But if you’re going to do a remodeling job, there are things we can do that will make the home much more comfortable, more energy-efficient and more healthy—and you’re not really going to notice the impact on your wallet."

Incorporating overhangs into your home design, for example, can "manage the way the sun impacts your home, and won’t really cost you anything," Ellis adds.

That kind of design tweak would be considered a green concept. But defining a green product can be a bit more challenging, because nothing is entirely eco-friendly. Even natural, renewable raw materials have to be extracted and manufactured, which requires energy and produces waste.

But most conventional building materials do have a greener counterpart.

Here are a few attributes that might qualify a product or material as green:

Plus, whatever products you decide on, buy locally when you can. It cuts down on the fuel needed for shipping.

Sure, it’ll take more effort to track down some green alternatives. But others you’ll find on the shelves of major retailers such as Home Depot or Lowes. Here’s some contact information for some local suppliers carrying green products:

• Eco-$mart (1-888-329-2705; www.ecosmartinc.com) is a Sarasota-based distributor of green construction materials, offering everything from recycled rubber pavers to safe rooms.
  
• Healthy Home (727-322-1058; www.healthyhome.com) is a St. Petersburg store that sells green home improvement products such as nontoxic paint and water filtration systems.
  
• Sarasota Green Marketplace (941-953-3588; www.sarasotagreenmarketplace.com) is a retailer offering a variety of earth-friendly products, from solar hot water heaters to handcrafted wooden bowls.