Effective Intervention Points for the Building Sector
When developing programs to affect change in the residential and commercial building sectors, such as for energy and greenhouse gas emissions reductions, it is important to recognize each sector’s optimal intervention points, i.e. points where major transformations can most easily take place. Intervention points occur over the life of a building, from its inception to its demolition. In its white paper, Effective Intervention Points for the Building Sector, Architecture 2030 identifies these fundamental, critical points, which can be summed up as follows:
Optimal intervention points for residential buildings occur during:
- Building design – schematic design, material and building systems selection
- Existing home purchases
- Home mortgage refinancing
- Rebuilding (after a natural disaster)
For commercial buildings they occur during:
- Building design – schematic design, material and building systems selection
- Existing building purchases
- Leasing / tenant improvements
- Building renovation cycles
- Rebuilding (after a natural disaster)
Programs that do not recognize these intervention points or take advantage of them, face unnecessary obstacles and costs, and potential failure.
