Certain LifeStyle team members enjoyed spending a portion of last week at the GreenTrends 2014 Conference—an annual conference presented by the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) in Tallahassee. The purpose of the conference is to foster the growth of sustainable, green building throughout the state of Florida.

GreenTrends 2014—which took place August 13-15 at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota—was a mash-up of presentations, exhibitors, and networking among the state’s leading green-minded building businesses.

LifeStyle Homes was honored to be asked by Suzanne B. Cook, executive director of FGBC, to give a presentation at this year’s conference. On Thursday morning, LifeStyle’s Jordan Luhn and Tom Mueller presented the “Business Solutions for Zero-Energy-Ready Homes” alongside our building science partners at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) to a room of engaged attendees from throughout the state.

The presentation delved into how and why LifeStyle originally began building our zero-energy-ready (also called LifeStyle SunSmart℠ homes) and our solar-powered zero-energy homes with the help of the FSEC scientists. It also discussed why this higher level of building makes great business sense.

In addition to LifeStyle and FSEC’s presentation on building zero-energy-ready homes, many other experts on energy-efficient building technologies and practices also gave great presentations. Furthermore, meetings and discussions focused on Florida’s energy policies sparked some insightful conversations among attendees.

The conference wasn’t all business, however. Fun in the form of parties and a silent auction were also on the agenda, making for a wonderful, well-rounded event.

Overall, the GreenTrends 2014 conference proved to be a great experience for LifeStyle Homes. Thank you again to FGBC for inviting us to attend and present our story to other green-minded professional throughout the state. And as always, we are sincerely grateful the building scientists at FSEC. Without their guidance and expertise on building scientifically-tested and proven energy-efficient homes, we wouldn’t be we are today.