One Airport Square, ACCRA, Ghana. EDGE certified.

EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) is a software application for new residential and commercial buildings that enables design teams and project owners to assess the most cost-effective ways to incorporate energy and water saving options in their buildings.

This green building certification system is now available for the building industry in India, under the Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI). It has recently been selected by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group to offer this service on the subcontinent.

GBCI is the only certification and credentialing body within the green business and sustainability industry to exclusively administer project certifications and professional credentials and certificates of LEED, PEER, WELL, SITES, and GRESB.

By helping to incrementally push India's massive construction market forward, EDGE jumpstarts the mainstreaming of green buildings to help counter climate change.

Construction in India facts

• Construction industry value: $126 billion (2013).
• Total construction spending: $427 billion (2013), the third-highest in Asia.
• Construction spending growth: seven per cent (2013), the second-highest in Asia.
• Between 2000 and 2013, an average of 11 per cent of India's GDP was based on construction activity.
• Over 35 million people are employed in the construction industry, making it the second-largest employer in India.
• The construction sector accounts for the second-highest inflow of FDI into India, after services.

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EDGE

EDGE encourages resource-efficient building by establishing an effective entry-level option for affordable sustainable design and construction. EDGE is a measurable way for builders to optimize their designs, leading to a more investment-worthy and marketable product. 

With the EDGE software, you can design resource-efficient residential or commercial buildings quickly, easily, and affordably:

• Fast: the EDGE software helps you discover the ideal measures for the best return on your investment within minutes.
• Simple: Beneath the intuitive EDGE interface is a powerful engine that understands the climatic conditions of your location and how your building will be used by occupants.
• Smart: EDGE lets you view hypothetical capital costs and a prospective payback period for commercial buildings.

Whether you are constructing homes or apartments, hotels or resorts, office buildings, health care facilities, or retail establishments, EDGE empowers you to build sustainably.

What's more, strategies that you apply to an EDGE project can later be leveraged and upgraded to sustainable building techniques involving more comprehensive green building rating systems such as LEED.

Here's how it works. EDGE, at its core, is a software design application that calculates operational savings and reduced carbon emissions for your building as measured against a base case. The objective is to reduce energy consumption, water consumption, and embodied energy in materials by 20% each.

EDGE registered projects can earn certification through a two-phase process:

• Preliminary Certification: Utilizing the EDGE software for project design is the first step to becoming EDGE certified. Preliminary Certification is awarded when the project's design (as calculated by the EDGE software) demonstrates sustainable building solutions that result in 20% or more resource efficiency savings. Certification at the design stage is provisional.
• EDGE Certification: To qualify for EDGE Certification, a building must actually deliver on the provisional savings demonstrated in the design stage. Before final EDGE certification is awarded, a trained EDGE auditor formally reviews the completed project and a site audit is performed.

Some frequently asked questions

Q: Can my project become EDGE certified no matter where it is located in the world?
EDGE certification is available in emerging market countries, including Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Vietnam. More locations will soon be available.

Q: Can I certify existing buildings with EDGE?
EDGE can only be used for new buildings that are homes, hotels, offices, retail, or hospitals.

Q: Can I trade credits among the three resource categories (energy, water, and materials) in order to achieve the EDGE standard?
EDGE doesn't use "credits" but instead works on a simple pass/no pass basis without levels of achievement. When compared to a conventional building, your project must achieve at least a 20% reduction in each of the three resource categories to reach the EDGE standard.

Q: If my project is EDGE certified, is it automatically certified by other major international green building rating systems?
EDGE is an independent certification system that currently doesn't inter-relate with other international rating systems. That said, many international rating systems, including LEED, are excited by the prospect that EDGE will encourage many builders and developers to begin thinking about resource-efficient design. Importantly, sustainable strategies applied to EDGE projects can later be leveraged to realize other certifications that are more comprehensive in scope.

Q: Why should I choose EDGE over other certification systems?
Choosing a certification system that is right for your project depends on many factors. EDGE is non-competitive in nature, as its intention is to help scale up green building eco-systems in emerging markets. EDGE is one of many certification systems, each having its own purpose and advantage. Before choosing a rating system for your project, be sure to evaluate your needs and options.

Q: Does my project have to receive IFC financing to qualify for EDGE certification?
The majority of EDGE certification will occur outside of IFC's investment program, as the primary intention is to support the rapid escalation of green building growth, through a wide variety of financing options.

Q: If my building is certified at the design stage, am I all set?
Certification at the design stage is provisional. A trained EDGE auditor must then review a building again at the post-construction phase and perform a site audit in order to achieve EDGE certification.

Q: Why should I design a building using EDGE if I'm not interested in certifying it?
By utilizing the EDGE software as a free resource at the early design stage, you can quickly and easily evaluate the most ideal technical solutions that result in 20% or more resource efficiency savings. For commercial buildings, you can also quickly view capital costs and their associated payback times.

Q: Is EDGE certification free?
Though affordably priced, EDGE certification is not free. Cost varies according to the number of buildings, the floor area, and the type of building.

LEARN MORE ABOUT EDGE