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Venice, Florida, located on Florida’s west coast is now home to the first production model green home. WCI Communities built the model, and is the nations 14th largest homebuilder. This is an exciting endeavor both for the Venice community as well as WCI.
Casa Verde
WCI Communities has named its green home Casa Verde which actually means green home in Spanish. The development of the green home was for publicity as the company is pushing really hard in Florida, as well as to begin building green homes in an area of the country where people may appreciate such a home.
The 3,000 square foot home offers three bedrooms and is in the Venetian Golf and River Club, which is a private community. Casa Verde is the highest scoring green home in Florida according to Florida Green Building Coalitions Green Home Standards.
Some of the most notable green features are the GreenBlock insulating concrete forms that were used. These forms can help the home stand up to 200 mph winds in the event of a tropical storm or hurricane. Other features were the use of a hydrogen fuel cell system that powers the home, state of the art water conserving appliances, natural lighting, and a high efficiency air system. In total there were more than 300 green features in the home, which added about $86,000 dollars to the cost of the home, which was valued at $297,990.
The Venetian Golf and River Club is a 1,000-acre private community near Venice that is dedicated to having an entire community of green certified homes. This means that each of the homes will be designed with the most energy and water efficient systems possible, as well as healthy materials and other green products.
The all green community will sell well, according to a study done at the University of Florida. Approximately 75% of those questioned would pay more for a green home!
