"Buyers wanting to upgrade to a new home but who are concerned about the subsequent tax increase should consider renovating existing homes. These buyers can reduce their environmental footprint and gain substantial long-term tax savings. Sarasota is ripe with renovation opportunities.”

-Grant Castilow

Green Event for a Better Environment

Sarasota Herald Tribune | March 17, 2007

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?

How about Marie Selby Botanical Gardens?

That's right. Many homeowners call Selby when they want information on green building and landscaping -- must be all that greenery around the world-famous botanical garden on Sarasota's bayfront.

Next Friday, though, Selby will be the green resource of choice when it hosts a one-day seminar in conjunction with a company called MyGreenBuildings, a new Sarasota firm that specializes in the "greening" of older structures. Called "Make It Green," the seminar will feature presentations by such local experts as Drew Smith of Two Trails Inc. and Matt Ross of Eco-$mart.

At the end of the day, I will moderate a panel discussion that sums it all up, with questions from the audience.

"The purpose of the seminar is to define for people what 'green' is," said Steve Ellis of MyGreenBuildings. "We're going to talk about products and systems that are available locally. I'll talk about how you incorporate these products and systems and techniques into building a home.

"People ask what a green house looks like. It doesn't look any different from any other house. The difference is what goes on in the design and the products that you put into it," said Ellis.

The seminar is the brainchild of Donna Krabill, Selby's director of environmental education, who saw an article in the Herald-Tribune about MyGreenBuildings and called Ellis, who, conveniently, has a background in producing seminars.

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