Florida Welcomes Green Building Council

Sarasota County consistently leads the state of Florida when it comes to going green. And now it will be even easier to lead the way with its own chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

On Feb. 2, they packed the Selby Library's auditorium to kick off the local branch. More than 140 architects, contractors, business owners and homeowners were there. All of them celebrating green building and its future here on the Suncoast.

Many people who design and build new homes agree that green is the way to go. Future homes and businesses built on the Suncoast will be more energy efficient, use less water and will make less of an impact on our environment.

This new Suncoast branch of the U.S. Green Building council will work to educate builders and homeowners alike.

"The chapter is actually going to bring financial resources to the area," says Michael Carlson with Carlson Studio Architecture. "We're going to be able to provide training to contractors, architects and anyone who is interested -  even homeowners. Local training to help understand what this whole big movement is all about."

Carlson will lead the green building chapter. He says green building is not going away anytime soon. 

"It's not a trend, it's not something that's gonna come and go," he says. "It's going to go from being a volunteer kind of system to working its way into the code system. So it's something that everybody's looking at right now."