Test-Case Scenario

Standing proudly on the outskirts of the Danish city of Aarhus is an experimental eco-home where one brave family is testing out life with the latest cutting-edge sustainable design. For the past year, Sverre and Sophie Simonsen, along with their three children, Axel, nine, Anna, seven, and baby Marie, have been living in the world’s first Active House—a building so technically advanced that in 40 years it will have created enough energy not only to support the family inside along the way but also to pay back the energy used for its materials and construction: a house, in short, with no carbon debt.