Sustainable Living In Action: Southface Sarasota at the Florida House

By Ryan G. Van Cleave | May 2022

More than a quarter of a century ago, Sarasota County, the School Board, and the non-profit Florida House Institute envisioned a local green demonstration house and gardens that would inspire environmental stewardship and enhance the quality of life in Sarasota with opportunities for eco-friendly exploration, design, and action. That forward-thinking commitment to sustainable living resulted in the creation of the Florida House. It wasn’t just a local resource but also the first green building in the entire country that was fully open and available to the public. Soon, the Florida House was buzzing with workshops, tours, and demonstrations for students and community members to advance an ethos of sustainable practices including energy and water conservation, recycling, and landscape design.

In 2021, the Florida House joined sustainable building nonprofit Southface Institute as the first satellite location of the Atlanta-based organization. An innovator in strengthening equity and the environment by transforming residential and commercial structures since 1978, Southface sought to expand within the Southeast. The Florida House’s similar mission, vision, and community leadership made the two non-profits a match made in sustainability heaven. The new partnership launched as Southface Sarasota at the Florida House.  

“I got hired in March 2021,” says Sarasota local Amber Whittle, who serves as Executive Director of Southface Sarasota at the Florida House as well as Southface’s VP of Development, Marketing, and Communications. “It’s a very lively place here. People are always coming and going. We regularly have students coming by fixing this or learning that, or someone’s shooting video here. Plus, members of the community come by all the time.”

That’s been the idea from the beginning, but the biggest benefit of the Florida House is that people can discover firsthand what sustainable living can look like in the real world. “We have the permaculture gardens. We have the cisterns. We have the PGT windows, EcoSmart sustainable flooring, and Terry Osborn’s Florida cracker house design with passive cooling,” Whittle explains. “We also have solar panels and pervious pavers. We basically have everything in one place so people can come in and learn about all the different aspects of sustainability.”

Whittle points out that the Florida House continues to evolve with the latest technologies. For example, they’ve got the latest PGT windows because PGT wants people to see how they work and what they do—the Florida House is a demonstration facility for them and other vendors of sustainable products. One of the things that hasn’t needed to be upgraded are the solar panels. “It’s basically been the same technology for the last 50 years,” Whittle says. “A lot of sustainability products are things we’ve known about for a long time, but the costs are coming down now.”

Southface Sarasota is closely following a new trend related to electric vehicles. While most people think about plugging their car in at home to charge it using solar panels or other forms of energy, the opposite can be true as well. So, if a power outage leaves your house without energy, you can plug in some new electric vehicles, like the Ford F-150, and use it to power up the house. All you need is a specific converter, and your car or truck can function as one big battery for your other power needs. Talk about flexibility!

One of the things that surprises Whittle is how slow Florida utility companies have been to incentivize energy efficiency as seriously as other states have. “Our utility companies need to embrace solar in a way they’re currently not. In other states, companies are already using it as part of their business model. We’re still a couple of years behind them.” In California, for instance, it turned out to be extremely valuable for customers to be energy independent during the wildfire crises. Here in Florida, we’d benefit from more energy independence to get us through a hurricane, where the power could be out for a few days or a few weeks. Floridians can keep themselves and their neighbors going during emergencies with accessible, reliable energy generation options.

“It’s also a quality-of-life issue,” Whittle notes. “People often think about it economically first, but right now, I’m sitting in my office that’s only 30 feet from Beneva Road—a busy road—and I can’t hear the cars at all. That’s because of my beautiful PGT double-pane windows. Having nice cork flooring, good foam insulation, and great air quality can improve your quality of life as much as it saves you money. Plus, having a garden just outside means that I can walk out and grab a loquat or fig whenever I want. Or I can just walk around and look at the butterflies. It’s really beautiful having a garden like that and being able to appreciate it all the time.”

The lease for the Florida House ends on July 9 of this year. However, it’s still unclear what Sarasota County intends to do with it next. Years ago, the Florida House building was relocated to make way for an expansion of the Suncoast Technical College. Will the building be moved again or repurposed? Maybe.

Regardless, Southface Sarasota is committed to keeping this green demonstration home going because it’s central to their mission of promoting sustainable homes, workplaces, and communities through education, research, advocacy, and technical assistance. The Florida House brings all that together into one package that’s been a gift to Sarasota for decades. Southface Sarasota will keep working to ensure it’ll be around for decades to come as a beacon of hope and an important sustainability resource as we define the future of our climate, environment, and community.

For more information about Southface Sarasota at the Florida House, please visit www.southface.org/sarasota or call 941.924.2050.