World’s first Active House in Denmark scores all green points as zero-carbon den

It’s time to evaluate Active House versus Passive House. Though both are uber eco-friendly, there is more than one reason for one to excel over the other especially for a zero-carbon living. Touted to be the world’s first Active House and located in Denmark, this ultra efficient house captures more energy than an average family needs to heat and power it. With solar panels and solar thermal, the designers have calculated that in 30 years’ time the excess electricity flowing from the house into Denmark’s grid will cancel out the energy costs of building it. Thus helping to leave a non-existent footprint on the earth’s resources! It is smartly monitored by computers that control the temperature and climate of the interior and opens, closes, and adjusts windows accordingly. Such a super energy efficient house can cost about $788,000.

While Passive Houses, which are more noticeable in Scandinavia, Germany and Austria, are more design based to conserve energy. Though they require little or no energy for heating and cooling, it is known that occupants of Passive Houses tend to buy supplemental heating equipment.
[Jetsongreen]