We love hearing success stories from schools in other parts of the world and we recently discovered the Active Classroom in the UK. Created by SPECIFIC, a U.K. Innovation and Knowledge Center led by Swansea University, the Active Classroom has just celebrated its first birthday by recording an energy positive year. The Active Classroom doesn’t just generate A LOT of solar energy, it can generate 1.5 times the needs of the operation.

How is this possible? The Active Classroom pulls together a number of sustainable technologies and design. The specially designed curved roof and walls are covered in laminated photovoltaic and thermal photovoltaic panel arrays, with generated energy being stored in large lithium-ion batteries. The building also includes a 2,000 liter water tank designed to store solar heat.

The same project team has also designed an Active Office next door to show off the flexibility of these structures and hopefully attract greater interest from the general public. You can check out more photos and read the original story at Inhabitat.