The Historic Green Village at Anna Maria

Background

Today’s power industry is built around centralized generation, transmission and distribution of electricity utilizing primarily coal, natural gas and uranium as fuel sources. For several years, a new model for more distributed generation and delivery of energy services has been evolving, and a product of this evolution is the Smart Energy District. A Smart Energy District includes a range of alternative energy sources, energy efficiency measures, intelligent energy management of distributed resources and loads, and internet-based monitoring that provides real-time feedback on energy consumption. Implementing a new energy architecture across several buildings (i.e. a district) can reduce capital and operating costs, increase energy efficiency, and accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy.

Surprisingly, the setting for this new distributed energy model is Anna Maria Island, a barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico that has retained the look and feel of Old Florida. It is a pedestrian and bicycle friendly community, with miles of sugar white sand and a relaxed, easygoing atmosphere.

Several years ago, a vacationing British couple, Lizzie and Mike Thrasher, were captivated by the natural beauty and slow pace of the island and decided to put down roots in the sandy soil. Amidst significant development pressures, they saw the opportunity to simultaneously preserve the historic charm of Anna Maria Island while demonstrating the feasibility of setting a new benchmark for environmental sustainability. They bought five lots on Pine Avenue, the modest commercial center of the City of Anna Maria, on which two neglected historic buildings sat. The Thrashers then purchased two other historic buildings designated for demolition and moved them to the site as well. The result: the Anna Maria Island Historic Green Village .

The Village preserves the historic charm and scale of Old Florida while providing a portfolio of technologies that demonstrate the state-of-the-art in sustainable design and development. The Village generates more energy than it consumes, harvests rainwater and storm-water, and encourages a range of sustainable transportation choices. There is a free public charger for electric cars and golf carts. The City also offers free trolley service – 7 days a week, 16 hours a day-- that arrives every 20 minutes. Beach Bums, the store next door to the Village, rents bicycles, electric golf carts and Go Pets, a Segway-type personal transporter. All of the buildings are designed to meet LEED Platinum level - the highest level of certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). From the beginning, the owners have been committed to creating the first Net Zero Energy campus in the US, and with the opening of the Rosedale Café and Sears Cottage they have succeeded. The Smart Energy District was the means to achieve this objective.