Tallahassee, FL– Renowned nature photographer John Moran joined the Council for Sustainable Florida today in Tallahassee to honor business, non-profit, education and individual leaders committed to preserving the environment and creating a healthy economy for Florida.The Council presented awards in several categories including Leadership, Small Business, Large Business, Government, Non-Profit, Business Partnership, a Green Building Award and the Legacy Award. Award winners will also receive a resolution from the Governor and Cabinet at a ceremony on Tuesday morning. Honored at the Best Practices Awards program in Tallahassee

The redevelopment of Osprey is firmly under way now that ground has been broken at the Bay Street Village & Towncenter mixed-use project.  Longtime Venice developer Mike Miller of The Waterford Companies, Randy Moore of Crossgate Partners and a dozen other people involved in the project lifted the ceremonial shovels Tuesday at the site, on the east side of U.S. 41, between Bay Street and the Wal-Mart supercenter, in this central Sarasota County community.

Local homeowners may not know it, but they have just one degree of separation from movie heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio.

Their link: green building components incorporated in their homes. Movie star/environmentalist DiCaprio said so on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and hom

eowners are saying so with more interest in energy-saving products.

You meet a handsome, successful business owner who has a habit of designing dream homes for himself. Two nights later, hecooks you dinner, and he calls every night from then on. He asks you to marry him. And then he builds you a modern mansion complete with your own painting studio and space for abutterfly garden.

Benderson Development is working with Moule & Polyzoides, urbanist architects, and Two Trails Inc., green consultants, to develop an approach for integrating green technologies and materials in stores, homes and offices. The 1.9 million-square-foot University Town Center hopes to become the mixed-use development that achieves a "working sustainable lifestyle center."

The AURORA  Awards regional design competition honored environmentally friendly, newly constructed homes and developments with Grand Awards during the recent Southeast Building Conference (SEBC) in Orlando. “Builders and utility companies, working together, combined their talents and resources to create award-winning homes that are environmentally friendly,” said Michele Harrison, a Naples builder and 2007 Aurora Awards Chair. “Their achievements are highlighted with the AURORA Award to display their distinction within the home building industry.”

Achieving a high HERS rating is one of the key elements to obtaining a Green Certification on any residential property. (PRWEB) October 20, 2006 -- David Melville, President of David Melville Contracting Service, has set a new standard in the Green Building industry. Mr. Melville has been involved in the construction industry for a many years but it was not until 2006 that he decided to move to the next step and enter the market place as a homebuilder.

Between organic foods and hybrid cars, the reputation of earth-friendly products is one that comes at a pretty penny, but bybuilding your home “green,” saving the environment may not be the only green you’ll save. According to Matt Ross, President of Eco-$mart, a local company devoted to helping people live and work in buildings that are healthy, efficient, and cost-effective, the difference in price between building green and conventional construction ranges from a savings of 1% to an additional cost of 8%. While the sticker price may charge you more up front, the decision to build green, increasing a structure’s efficiency while decreasing harmful impacts on the environment, can reduce your monthly operational and utility bills by 70%, a savings that often recoups the initial extra costs in two to three years.

SARASOTA, Fla.—In recognition for his work developing standards for environmentally friendly building, the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) awarded the "Green Hammer" to Drew Smith, president of Two Trails, Inc. Smith, who is also the president of FGBC, founded his company on the focus of "preventative property maintenance and green consulting," according to a press release.

Tech House, now being built by Vision Homes in the new Trillium subdivision off Sarasota's Proctor Road, will become the first demonstration house to receive "green" certification from the Florida Green Building Coalition, said "green" construction consultant Drew Smith of Two Trails Inc. Vision Homes and the Home Builders Association of Sarasota County hired Smith to certify that the house is built to FGBC standards. Smith recently became an accredited professional of the LEED program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).