<p>Imagine living in a house that produces more energy than it consumes. A house so technically advanced and environmentally-friendly that within 40 years, it will have fed more energy back into the national grid than was used to build it, thus wiping out its carbon debt to the planet. Would it be a green nirvana or a technophobe’s nightmare?<br /><br />For the past seven months, Sverre and Sophie Simonsen and their three children have been living in the world’s first Active House, in Denmark – a sleek, angular building outside Aarhus with views of the sea. It’s one of seven prototypes being built across Europe by different architects – and will be joined in the autumn by an equally green semi-detached house in Kettering, Northamptonshire. For 12 months, a test family will occupy each home, while the building’s performance and the family’s experience are monitored.<br /><br />The Simonsens volunteered after seeing an advert online. Says Sophie, “Here was a chance to actually make a difference.” Sverre had been itching to move from their 1970s home. “It’s a typical suburban Danish house with lots of small rooms and windows, and dark corners. I’d always wondered what it would be like to live in a really contemporary, open-plan building,” he says. <br /><br />After three months of being observed and monitored they moved into their new £500,000 home, the only instruction being to continue life as normal.<br /><br />Sunshine and privacy<br /><br />The quantity of light is the biggest change: glass features heavily in the design, by Aart Architects for VKR Holding– it has almost twice as many windows as an average house, all triple-glazed with super insulated frames. This is in contrast to most eco homes, in particular PassivHaus buildings, where large windows on all but the southern facades are frowned upon due to the material’s poor insulating performance.<br /><br />“The natural light is incredible,” says Sophie. “It’s definitely made a difference to our mood.” In winter, solar radiation streaming through the windows provides 50 per cent of the house’s heating, while in the summer it is restricted by an automated system that controls interior and exterior sunscreens and opens windows to ventilate the space naturally. <br /><br />With the family’s feedback the pre-set programmes have been tweaked. “It got very hot last summer, and it was so bright you needed sunglasses in the kitchen,” says Sophie. Privacy also proved a problem as the perforated solar screens offered little respite from curious passers by.<br /><br />Getting to grips with the lights that automatically turn off when sensors detect no activity was equally interesting. “If you’ve been sitting on the toilet a little too long, you’re suddenly plunged into darkness and it seems a long way to the switch,” says Sverre. “And we had to install separate bedside lamps for the children as their overhead lights kept turning off during bedtime stories.”<br /><br />The computerised control panel, which displays how much energy and hot water the house is producing and consuming – and now allows the family to operate the windows and blinds – looks fiendishly complicated.<br /><br />“The blinds and windows are numbered differently, with no diagram, so at the start it was trial and error,” says Sophie. ""Once you've figured it out, you don’t have to understand the technology, you just turn it on and type, but the problem is when something goes wrong.”<br /><br />Harnessing the sun's power<br /><br />The southern façade of the roof is pitched at 35 degrees to maximise solar gain, and coated with solar cells and collectors. The cells generate electricity for the lighting, appliances and the house's automated control system. They should produce 5,500 kWh/annum – nearly double the amount required by the family in a year – so for eight months excess energy is fed back to the grid, and in the dreary depths of the Danish winter additional energy is provided from the grid for free.<br /><br />The solar collectors provide 50-60 per cent of the annual hot water, and, combined with a solar heat pump, power the underfloor heating. There's also a mechanical ventilation system, which takes heat from stale air being extracted from the building and uses it to warm fresh, filtered air entering the home.<br /><br />“Both Axel and I suffer from allergies so I’m interested to see how the ventilation system, combined with the non-toxic floor and wall finishes, will affect our health,” says Sverre.<br /><br />What’s most impressive is that this energy balance is achieved without the family living a monastic lifestyle: the house has two flat-screen TVs; a kitchen crammed with top of the range Siemens and Gaggenau appliances, a double shower encased in trendy recycled glass tiles and a washing machine. “You don’t feel you’re making any sacrifices,” says Sophie. “We use less energy without really thinking about it.”<br /></p>
<p>Imagine living in a house that produces more energy than it consumes. A house so technically advanced and environmentally-friendly that within 40 years, it will have fed more energy back into the national grid than was used to build it, thus wiping out its carbon debt to the planet. Would it be a green nirvana or a technophobe’s nightmare?<br /><br />For the past seven months, Sverre and Sophie Simonsen and their three children have been living in the world’s first Active House, in Denmark – a sleek, angular building outside Aarhus with views of the sea. It’s one of seven prototypes being built across Europe by different architects – and will be joined in the autumn by an equally green semi-detached house in Kettering, Northamptonshire. For 12 months, a test family will occupy each home, while the building’s performance and the family’s experience are monitored.<br /><br />The Simonsens volunteered after seeing an advert online. Says Sophie, “Here was a chance to actually make a difference.” Sverre had been itching to move from their 1970s home. “It’s a typical suburban Danish house with lots of small rooms and windows, and dark corners. I’d always wondered what it would be like to live in a really contemporary, open-plan building,” he says. <br /><br />After three months of being observed and monitored they moved into their new £500,000 home, the only instruction being to continue life as normal.<br /><br />Sunshine and privacy<br /><br />The quantity of light is the biggest change: glass features heavily in the design, by Aart Architects for VKR Holding– it has almost twice as many windows as an average house, all triple-glazed with super insulated frames. This is in contrast to most eco homes, in particular PassivHaus buildings, where large windows on all but the southern facades are frowned upon due to the material’s poor insulating performance.<br /><br />“The natural light is incredible,” says Sophie. “It’s definitely made a difference to our mood.” In winter, solar radiation streaming through the windows provides 50 per cent of the house’s heating, while in the summer it is restricted by an automated system that controls interior and exterior sunscreens and opens windows to ventilate the space naturally. <br /><br />With the family’s feedback the pre-set programmes have been tweaked. “It got very hot last summer, and it was so bright you needed sunglasses in the kitchen,” says Sophie. Privacy also proved a problem as the perforated solar screens offered little respite from curious passers by.<br /><br />Getting to grips with the lights that automatically turn off when sensors detect no activity was equally interesting. “If you’ve been sitting on the toilet a little too long, you’re suddenly plunged into darkness and it seems a long way to the switch,” says Sverre. “And we had to install separate bedside lamps for the children as their overhead lights kept turning off during bedtime stories.”<br /><br />The computerised control panel, which displays how much energy and hot water the house is producing and consuming – and now allows the family to operate the windows and blinds – looks fiendishly complicated.<br /><br />“The blinds and windows are numbered differently, with no diagram, so at the start it was trial and error,” says Sophie. ""Once you've figured it out, you don’t have to understand the technology, you just turn it on and type, but the problem is when something goes wrong.”<br /><br />Harnessing the sun's power<br /><br />The southern façade of the roof is pitched at 35 degrees to maximise solar gain, and coated with solar cells and collectors. The cells generate electricity for the lighting, appliances and the house's automated control system. They should produce 5,500 kWh/annum – nearly double the amount required by the family in a year – so for eight months excess energy is fed back to the grid, and in the dreary depths of the Danish winter additional energy is provided from the grid for free.<br /><br />The solar collectors provide 50-60 per cent of the annual hot water, and, combined with a solar heat pump, power the underfloor heating. There's also a mechanical ventilation system, which takes heat from stale air being extracted from the building and uses it to warm fresh, filtered air entering the home.<br /><br />“Both Axel and I suffer from allergies so I’m interested to see how the ventilation system, combined with the non-toxic floor and wall finishes, will affect our health,” says Sverre.<br /><br />What’s most impressive is that this energy balance is achieved without the family living a monastic lifestyle: the house has two flat-screen TVs; a kitchen crammed with top of the range Siemens and Gaggenau appliances, a double shower encased in trendy recycled glass tiles and a washing machine. “You don’t feel you’re making any sacrifices,” says Sophie. “We use less energy without really thinking about it.”<br /></p>
