The five-bedroom timber frame property has been built by Caplin Homes in Great Glen, Leicestershire.

Solar energy collected in summer is stored by heating the ground beneath the building and this energy will be retrieved through a heat pump when needed in the winter.

Hybrid solar panels will collect enough heat from the sun to provide heating and hot water and twice the electricity needed to run the system.

Michael Goddard, director of Caplin Homes, told the Buxton Advertiser: “The design and construction, down to the materials, were used specifically for their low footprint.”

“We want to prove Government targets are achievable and genuine zero-carbon homes are a viable investment for UK house builders.

“The solar house shows how existing technologies can be used for a large family home but we plan to offer solutions for all house sizes.”

Estate agent Anthony Fox, of Country Properties, in Kibworth, who are selling the property, said there had already been a lot of interest in the house.

Fox said: “It has only just gone on the market and we’ve had incredible interest from people looking to buy the house but also from people looking to build their own.

“People are very keen to reduce their carbon footbprint and they’re fascinated by the technology and the prospect of their home being self-sustaining and self-sufficient.

“The setting is stunning and the house is very striking and contemporary. It’s a bit of a grand design.”

Goddard added:  “Our ambition is to prove to UK house builders that it is possible for them to build houses to these standards and to provide them with the means to do so.

“This will make a significant contribution to our country meeting its 2020 carbon reduction targets and enable householders to be set free from ever increasing energy bills.”

Energy flows in the house will be intensively monitored by a full time MSc student from the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University for the first full year of its life.

Dr Andrew Wright, of De Montfort University’s Institute of Sustainable Energy and Development (IESD), said: “We are delighted to play such a key role in this important project which could prove a milestone in energy efficient living.”

De Montfort University will publish an interim performance report in April 2014  and a full 12 months analysis the following August.

The expectation is that the technology will be rolled out into the building industry through a number of pilot projects partnered with house builders.