Live blog of speech by engineer Niels-Ulrik Kofoed on retrofitting

Niels-Ulrik Kofoed is speaking about Danish experience of building energy upgrades:

My laptop battery is on the way out so I probably won't make it through all of this  - thanks for reading, and please leave your comments on Rebuilding Ireland or Plan Expo below.

 12.39pm: Payback period of energy upgrade measures should be less than two thirds of the lifetime of the measures to be economically feasible

12.41pm: New 2010 Danish building regs will aim to reduce energy consumption of new buildings by 25%, with 50% and 75% reductions on current standards to follow in 2015 and 2020

12.44pm:  Apartment blocks and houses built post-1930 are ideal for energy upgrades in Denmark

12.46pm: Kofoed is referring to a housing retrofit project in Denmark that was able to reduce the building's energy consumption by 25% through passive design principles - changing the configuration and location of windows to let solar light and heat in in the right areas

12.49pm: Pre-fabrication in controlled factory conditions is the way to build low-energy, air-tight houses

12.51pm: In Denmark buildings from the 1930-50s and 60s-70s are ideal for retrofitting as there are no conservation restrictions on these time periods

12.52pm: Insulation of hot water pipes is an important but sometimes overlooked aspect of retrofitting, particularly in large buildings

One minute of battery left - that's all from me folks. Seeing as this was our first live blogging attempt it went okay-ish. Would love to read your comments below.