Live blog of speech by architect Elizabeth Francis

Highlights of speech by Elizabeth Francis of renowned architects Mario Cucinella (MCA) at Rebuilding Ireland conference:

 12.07pm: In Italy, peak demand for electricity is starting to exceed supply at times

 12.09pm: We can't put off sustainability any longer, our precarious energy situation demands we consider it now

12.16pm: Now telling the story of how the firm set about designing an evaporative cooling system

12.18pm: Unlike in conventionally air conditioned buildings which use mechanical systems, we decided to design a building form that uses cooling towers with evaporative cooling to cool air and distribute it through natural buoyancy

12.21pm: Such a system can allow for natural cooling in deep plan areas of office buildings

12.22pm: Computer-based visualisation was crucial to tweaking the system before it was finalised. The system can save up to 80% energy consumption compared to a conventional air conditioned building

12.24pm: MCA wanted to build an experimental home for €100,000 that had a low environmental impact and was appealing to the Italian lifestyle

12.26pm: The cost is €1,000 per square metre

12.27pm: Basic model is a concrete framed building with different cladding and glazing options. It's a "zero carbon" home.  Wind energy and PV are optional

12.28pm: It may be a modular home but it's also context and climate specific, the typology can be applied to many different contexts and locations

 12.29pm: With a feed in tariff for home renewable electricity production the house starts to become cheaper over time, as it produces more energy than it consumes 

12.30pm: MCA examined whether the 100k building would work in Ireland. They found that choosing the right components can create an "energy plus" building - one that produces more energy than it consumes  - even in the Irish climate

12.35pm: Now talking about a retrofit project in the historical centre of Cremona in Italy

 12.36pm: Aim was to be sensitive to context of historic centre of the town. Contemporary interpretation of historic shutters common to the area was central to the design

12.38pm: For the retrofit of a building complex in Milan, MCA reduced solar heat gain using a double-glass skin, and designed a glass canopy roof in the courtyard between four buildings to create a unifying space between them

12.44pm: Now showing an MCA-designed passive house with a much higher budget than the 100k house, in this case €2,500 per square meter. It's an apartment building in Paris. 

12.48pm: Interesting architectural forms are still possible when working to the passive house standard

12.51pm: Now showing MCA-designed Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, previously featured in Construct Ireland. 

Elizabeth is finished now. Later on today I'll post highlights of this morning's speeches which weren't live-blogged due to wi-fi problems.