This is the first green home for Hannah Bartoletta Homes, which intends to build all-green homes in the future. It's the second straight green showcase home for the builders association, and they've decided that all future showcases will be green.

So you have an older home and you want to make it more energy efficient. Where do you turn for information? The Florida House Learning Center, right?

UNIVERSITY PARK -- The University Park Women's Club Garden Group recently spent an afternoon exploring The Tech House. The Tech House was built incorporating a variety of innovative and advanced materials and techniques to demonstrate "green" construction, energy saving, environmentally friendly products and "smart" technology.

UNIVERSITY PARK -- The University Park Women's Club Garden Group recently spent an afternoon exploring The Tech House. The Tech House was built incorporating a variety of innovative and advanced materials and techniques to demonstrate "green" construction, energy saving, environmentally friendly products and "smart" technology.

By JUDY STARK, Times Staff Writer Published April 15, 2006You can't see lots of the items that make the Tech House energy-efficient, hurricane-worthy and high-tech. They're inside the walls and ceilings: insulation, wiring, pest control, air filtration.

LAKEWOOD RANCH - Staying green may be easier than getting green - at least that's what the staff at the Holiday InnLakewood Ranch found out.

What a difference a decade makes.

Ten years ago when it opened in Sarasota, the Florida House Learning Center was a novelty, a demonstration house built with energy-efficient materials and techniques. Just imagine, a deck made of recycled plastic bags and wood chips. Look at this, a European dishwasher that uses only 4 gallons of water instead of the usual 10 to 14. Hey, check this out: siding made of - what is this, manufactured wood?