Florida Green Homes

Hello Permies, I live in Florida and have been looking at some different kinds of green home designs.
I was initially interested in underground housing, but I'm not sure how applicable it is in Florida due to drainage issues.
I also looked into earth bag structures, but I'm not sure if they can stand up to all the rain the pours down here.
So my question is, what kinds of green home types would the wise people here suggest for the hot, wet, jungle like environment of Florida?

Joel Oakes : You could do a lot worse than Traditional Southern house Building Up off of the ground to promote breezes Wide wrap-around porches with deep overhangs
tall windows and exterior french doors A summer kitchen out side the house but connected to the house with a breeze-way !

All these house features are still valid, as is the use of insulation and shading plantings as part of your food forest ! Hope this helps !

For the good of the Crafts ! Be safe, keep warm ! As always, your Comments and questions are solicited and are Welcome ! PYRO -- MAGICALLY Big AL !

Thanks Al! I had heard this in a couple of places, but didn't know if that design would hold up to the hurricanes any better than a traditional, or even a mobile, home.

Yeah, unless you have a site where you can daylight one of your walls (and drainage) then underground usually causes more problems than it solves.

My strategy in your climate would be airtight and continuously insulated with minimal East and West glazing cooled by an air-sourced heat pump and preferably a mini-split if the spaces are small and open enough to keep the number of units to 2 or under. Designing for natural ventilation is a good idea but will only work for part of the year. As you know, humidity is the concern and I would personally not enjoy life in Fl without some de-humidification.

Deep overhangs will help with cooling and reduced maintenance but can be a serious liability in hurricane country. Wrap around porches offer more opportunity for effective foundation tiedown but can darken the interior a great deal on elevations with windows.

The building codes are your friend when hurricanes threaten and pay very close attention to how walls tie to foundation and roof ties to walls.