By 1990 Sarasota, like the rest of the Tampa Bay region in Florida, was under serious water restrictions.  Despite a barrage of public media exhortations to conserve water, water consumption continued to rise. Finally, a building moratorium referendum was placed on the November ballot.  The local political climate was highly charged and focused on “growth” versus “no-growth.”

A few interested citizens, led by the University of Florida/IFAS Sarasota County Extension, a local non-profit Earth Metabolics Design Lab (Earth MD Lab) and a number of development and environmental interests, and stimulated by a desire to develop a community-based solution to the water conservation challenge, organized diverse community interests into a coalition to explore common ground.  Their goal was to increase public participation in the planning process and the conservation campaign through demonstrating positive economic solutions for environmental problems.  Discussions centered around the construction of a model home and landscape that would be a new and innovative learning center to demonstrate real life solutions to water, energy and environmental dilemmas.  In that center Extension educators and trained volunteers would provide teaching and guidance for visitors to the center.

Earth MD Lab changed its name to the Florida House Institute and partnered with UF/IFAS Extension to create a public/private partnership to lead the effort through visioning, planning, fund-raising and construction.  Professionals volunteered their time to develop plans for the house and landscape using most current resource conservation products and materials. It quickly became obvious that the project afforded a not-to-be-missed opportunity to demonstrate not only water conservation, but building techniques and a design and development philosophy that would lead toward a sustainable lifestyle in which resources are used with maximum efficiency.  Today we call this green building and sustainable living. Committees were formed to take on leadership in landscaping, house design, fundraising and education, and a final planning decision was made to use the traditional Florida “cracker style” model for the house.

The Sarasota County School Board became a partner in the effort and donated a site for the house and landscape on the campus of the Sarasota County Technical Institute.  The School Board rented the site to the County for $1 a year for a period of five years, which has now stretched to 15 years.  The Southwest Florida Water Management District provided the first grant, for $80,000.  This grant required matching funds, so in-kind services and donations were solicited from businesses and individuals.  Florida Power and Light Company donated $20,000; the Selby Foundation donated $40,500; and the National Estuary Program and Home Depot Corporation donated $10,000 each.  All told, there were more than 200 contributors for the project.  In the years since the project was built, more than 100 more contributors have donated products or services to the project.    

In September of 1992 a Groundbreaking Ceremony was held, and the Florida House Learning Center, as it came to be called, became more than just a vision.  Throughout 1993 scores of community volunteers built the Florida House with guidance from professionals.  Students from the Technical Institute on campus helped with the construction of the house as a part of their building trades curriculum.  Even before the house was completed, it was entered into and became part of the 1993 Sarasota Parade of Homes.

The construction took nearly two years to complete.  In early 1994 the finishing touches were put on the house and landscape, and it opened to the public on Earth Day in April of 1994.  The thousands of man-hours that were donated by hundreds of volunteers had created a unique community demonstration center unlike any other, and a huge plaque in the covered porch commemorates each donor and testifies to the fact that this special project was truly a community endeavor.  It was not surprising that the center quickly became a Sarasota treasure; what was surprising was the speed with which it became a regional, statewide, national, and even international attraction.  It was a new, effective public education delivery system that showed citizens the best off-the-shelf technologies to promote resource conservation, recycling and building techniques and materials that enhance our quality of life while protecting our environment and meeting our economic sustainability needs. 

In addition to its educational mission, the project seeks to stimulate consumer demand for “green” products and methods, and everything featured at the Florida House is readily available off the shelf.  By demonstrating positive, real life, economic solutions to environmental dilemmas, the Learning Center has stimulated the marketplace in a number of tangible ways, for example, the creation of an Environmental Award category in the annual Homebuilder’s Parade of Homes.  Where once there were none, Sarasota now boasts many builders and developers committed to achieving certification by the Florida Green Building Coalition.  Scores of new homes embodying Florida House concepts have been built.

Description of the Learning Center

The house is a modern “Florida Cracker” style home with 2375 square feet of indoor-outdoor living space, including screened porches.  It features numerous water and energy-conserving designs and devices, as well as building materials with recycled content.  Energy Star® appliances and such renewable resources as Bamboo and Cork flooring are highlighted, along with recycled plastic carpet and ceramic tiles made from recycled auto windshields.

The “Model Florida Yard” demonstrates xeriscaping, micro-irrigation, composting, edible landscaping, reduced use of pesticides, fertilizers, water and energy, reduction of detrimental stormwater run-off, and two 2500-gallon cisterns which collect rainwater for use in irrigation.  The Learning Center also uses extensive educational signage in the yard and in the house.

Since the project began, the Learning Center has averaged about $12,000 of in-kind donations per year, and more than 150 new “green” products and services have been incorporated since its inception. In 2006 alone, the following new displays were added:

  • Clear Accordion Hurricane Shutters
  • Fabric/Mesh Hurricane Shutters
  • Porous Recycled Rubber Sidewalk
  • Palmwood Flooring
  • Almendro-Teak FSC-Certified Flooring
  • Strand-Woven Bamboo Flooring
  • Tube Skylight with Exhaust Fan & Artificial Light
  • Tube Skylight with Daylight Dimmer Control
  • Tankless Water Heater
  • Automatic Sensor Faucet
  • Soy-based Foam Insulation Display
  • Rain Barrels
  • Butterfly House

Educational Outreach

An average 10,000 visitors come to the Florida House each year, and many more enter through the landscape or back door and are not counted.  Classes are taught one day a week at the Florida House, and guided tours are provided to groups of school children as well as adult groups and individuals visiting the Florida House.  Special events are an important part of Florida House outreach.  Examples from 2006 include Earth Day, Wildlife Gardening Day, Change a Light Day, Creepy Crawly Day, NRDC Hybrid Car Rally, Wildflower Week, Casa Abierta Hispanic Day and Butterfly Gardening Day. 

This large educational outreach is supported by an annual county budget of $135,000, of which $27,000 is operating expense.  Two full time county staff and 50+ volunteers greet visitors, give tours, answer questions, maintain extensive literature racks, work with donors and trades people, maintain the landscape, and manage the building and grounds.  Master Gardener volunteers undergo 10 weeks (80 hours) of rigorous training in Florida-friendly landscaping before serving as tour guides and educators in the landscape, and Master Conservationist volunteers undergo 9 weeks (40 hours) of extensive training in green building and sustainable products before providing indoor tours and education.

Educational Impact
The mission of the Florida House Learning Center is six-fold: water conservation, energy efficiency and conservation, indoor environmental quality, sustainable materials, durability (storms and termites) and buying locally.  The educational strategy is not just to teach visitors green building and sustainable living, but to foster actual behavior change in these areas. Data collected over eleven years show the following annual averages:
          Visitors                                                              10,200
          Telephone Inquiries                                            8,700
          Educational Materials Distributed                   100,000+
          Educational Classes                                                 38
          Class Participants                                                 1,330
          Average Knowledge Gain                                       37%
          Children’s Tours                                                       20
          Students                                                                   450
          Average Student Knowledge Gain                          38%
          In-Kind Donations                                            $12,000+
          Partnerships                                                               57
          Volunteers                                                                 75
          Volunteer Hours                                                   3,800

The most significant achievements of the Florida House Learning Center are the knowledge gain and practice/behavior change reported by visitors to the Center.  Educational classes held there on green building and sustainable living topics report a 37% average knowledge gain in class participants, and Resource Conservation Tours for school children generate an average knowledge gain of 38% as measured on pre- and post-test scores. 

Time-lapse survey data collected over eleven years is even more compelling.  Each year in January the Florida House staff and volunteers mail surveys to an average 1500 first- time visitors from the previous year.  Returned responses average 24.4%, or about 366 completed surveys.  These surveys show the following impacts:

          Satisfied or Very Satisfied with Visit                          98%
          Gained Knowledge                                                     100%
          Intend to Change Behaviors                                         99%
          Changed Behaviors                                                      63%
          Redesigned Landscape                                                 52%
          Remodeled House                                                         23%
Upward trends over time are noted for both green home remodeling and landscape redesign.   

Staff and volunteers at the Learning Center feel that one of the most important determinants of visitor behavior change is the one-to-one interaction that happens between visitors and volunteers or staff.  A volunteer may spend ½ hour or more with a visitor demonstrating products, answering questions and providing information.  This one-to-one contact is a critical part of the behavior change equation.   

Community Impact

Through such behavior changes, Sarasota County reduced its per capita water consumption from 130 gallons a day in the early 90s to 89 gallons a day in 2006.  The Florida House Learning Center has given away over 400 2.5 gallon/minute showerheads during the last year alone, helping the community to save an estimated 1,728,000 gallons of water, based on a 2-person household and 4 showers a week. 

Regional and Global Impact

Individuals and families are not the only beneficiaries of Florida House Learning Center expertise.  Seventeen Florida municipalities have visited the Florida House to learn how to create their own sustainability education centers.  Hundreds of building industry professionals have come to the Florida House to see green building products and practices demonstrated.  Delegations from Mexico, Jordan, Russia and China have all visited the Learning Center in recent years.  Thousands of telephone and email inquiries about green building and sustainable living products have come in from states and municipalities across the nation.  Large outreach projects inspired by the Florida House Learning Center that have been completed or are underway include the following:

Graduate students and their professor from Tulane University in New Orleans have visited the Florida House Learning Center twice for information and ideas to help them assist their community not just to rebuild, but to rebuild green.

Media and Awards

Media focus on the Florida House Learning Center has been broad and sustained throughout the Center’s thirteen-year history, with innumerable appearances in newspapers, magazines, books, radio, television and web sites.  Over 12,000 column inches of newsprint have been dedicated to the Center in local and national newspapers and magazines.  The Florida House was featured on the PBS-TV Premiere episode of “Gulf Coast Journal” and on the CNN “Earth Matters” Program.  Awards presented to the Florida House include the National Technology Achievement Award (PTI), the Governor’s Environmental Education Award, and the Florida Sustainable Development Award.

While this kind of recognition is gratifying and helps to promote green building and sustainable living, workers and volunteers at the Florida House Learning Center find that the most deeply satisfying result of their “labor of love” is the impact the Center has on the lives of its visitors.  Year after year visitors to the Florida House Learning Center report that their visit to the Center has made a real difference in their lives, not only in practical day-to-day decision making, but in terms of raising their sustainability awareness and altering their values and lifestyles.  They are making new choices based on what they have learned at the Florida House, choices that will change their homes and landscapes to enhance their own quality of life as well as promote the sustainability of our local and global communities.

For a virtual tour of the Florida House Learning Center, please visit http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu