The best way to take advantage of solar heating is to build a home using various passive solar devices such as trombe walls. An acquaintance of mine has a spectacular home in Albuquerque that was designed from the ground up to utilize solar energy.



There's lots of good info out there for anyone who wants to take the time and do some research. This is a pretty good overview... Solar energy technologies

 

If you want an efficient/cheap to run (not so cheap to build) look at what the scandinavians are doing, as far as making power I have seen small hydro-electric plants providing for individual houses. Kind of irrelevant because I doubt Florida has many mountains/streams but I thought it was cool when I saw it.



Mark