ideally opening at about the same time as SunRail. Set to accept fares in May 2014, SunRail will run from DeBary in Volusia County through downtown Winter Park and Orlando to south Orange County. The $1.2 billion train should provide potential riders, Wilson said, because many will be looking for a way to get to their final destination. Wilson, who studies pedestrian and cycling patterns, said people typically are willing to walk no more than a half-mile.

After a few setbacks, a Lake Mary company behind what is expected to become Florida's largest solar farm is ready to start capturing the sun's energy with a sea of photovoltaic panels.

Tens of thousands of the panels will cover an area large enough in Sorrento to hold 300 football fields once the alternative-energy project is completed in a few years. BlueChip Energy recently received approval on a zoning change from Lake County, which was needed to move forward with the massive solar farm 30 miles northwest of Orlando.

My clients now say they'd like to do this, but there's the cost."

Greg Gent is able to recite the origins of almost every part and product used in building the house, from the suppliers of sand and limestone in Lake Wales to the cement company in Sumterville. The item he is most excited about, however, is the Pawleys Island handcrafted rope hammock from South Carolina.

Unable to find a ceiling fan manufactured on U.S. soil, he said he and his wife are holding off on ordering any. Maybe someone in this country will start manufacturing them again, he said.

Because gopher tortoises are a protected species, if burrows are found on a development site that appear to be occupied, developers are required to relocate them to a safer place before they can do any site work.

That’s where Lotspeich comes in.

Ecological firms are required to set up traps to catch the tortoises and monitor them daily — weekends included — for 28 days, per state rules. If no tortoises are captured, the traps can be broken down.

A great real-world version of Bruce Sterling’s “Kiosk” science fiction story from designer Unfold.

Kiosk is a project that explores a near future scenario in which digital fabricators are so ubiquitous, that we see them appear on street corners, just like fast food today is sold in NY style mobile food stalls. A place where you can quickly get a custom made fix for your broken shoe, materialize an illegal download of Starck’s Juicy Salif orange squeezer that you modified for better performance or quickly print out a present for your sisters birthday.