Florida Learning House
Built as a testament to sustainable living, the Florida House opened in 1994 to showcase to the public alternative energy options featuring the latest technologies in water and energy conservation, environmental landscaping, and to support local economic development.
Lennox SunSource
Last week, we were on hand for the Florida House’s newest addition, a state-of-the-art Lennox SunSource Home Energy System, a solar powered air conditioning system that will be the first of its kind in Florida. Because air conditioning can account for nearly 56 percent of an average household’s electricity consumption, the Florida House hopes to show homeowners that installing a solar powered air conditioning system can not only contribute to lowering electric bills but can also offset other utility demands because the solar system stores energy for when the sun isn’t shining and can produce electricity for other household demands.
The system was donated by Tri-County Air Conditioning and Heating, Inc., one of the largest air conditioning service and replacement companies in Florida.
Check out our video to learn more about the Florida House and its solar powered air conditioning unit debut.
Jaszy McAllister
Jaszy McAllister is the woman behind the curtain of Modern Hippie Mag. She is also the host for ModernHippieMag.com video and podcast interview profiles and a Green Guru for TheGreenGirls.com. Find her on Twitter, @msjaszy. Read more articles by Jaszy.
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Jaszy McAllister is the Head Honcho of Modern Hippie Media and the driving force behind MHMag. Her desire to give voice and document her own personal eco-journey and discovery was the basis of creating Modern Hippie Mag. Outside of being the Editor in Chief, Jaszy is a spokesperson, host, model, actress, and self-professed workaholic, computer junkie. She enjoys good food, good company and dancing her tushy off at local Latin dance clubs.
This was a welcome event, and a signpost on the road to re-opening the Florida House .
It is the first, and now legacy, demonstration of sustainable building and the foundation of green building movement in Florida, started in Sarasota.
Solar PV panels with individual inverters are a way for small systems to offset energy used. We had a client put several on his home earlier this year and offset the electric used to power his self converted – all electric-1971 VW beetle which they drive locally. Larger scale use, and noting that a hot water solar panel ( a real no-brainer install in Florida) was already on the Florida House, is the clear path we all can take.
part II
There are many jobs waiting to happen, and send a wave of $1,000s and thousands of dollars to be saved and channeled into homeowners and businesses, by using such key technologies. The savings in oil, carbon, mercury, have never been more important or clearly needed.
Just the energy to heat a family's hot water, when done by a solar panel, offsets a car going about 11,000 miles/yr. and about 11 barrels of oil each year of a 20-30 year typical lifespan. Powerful.
Thank you for your coverage of this important event.
About the only fault I can find with this book is that the title doesn't quite match the content. But that's a good thing.
Rather than being a guide to passive solar home design, it is instead really a comprehensive guide to energy efficient home design, with passive solar techniques being one of the topics covered.
Some of the topics covered in this book include:
1). Building techniques for energy efficiency, with an extensive coverage of insulation materials and techniques, including insulation of foundations and slabs.
2). Backup (to solar) heating and cooling including discussion of the geothermal heat pump, a technique that provides considerably better energy efficiency than the conventional heat pump, and one that can be used in colder climates where conventional heat pumps are not viable.
3). A consideration of health issues associated with all the design alternatives, including such matters as air quality/ventilation techniques, and environmental issues associated with various construction materials such as the different types of insulation.
I recently bought another book that was explicitly on the topic of energy efficient home design, but this one covers the subject with more thorough and useful information.
I also appreciate that there was little mention of photovoltaics, although the author indicates he does have solar panels in his own home, I interpret his lack of coverage of this technology in the book an indication that he has correctly recognized that they do not make economic or environmental sense at the present time nor in the forseeable future.
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