EDGE FAQ

As a starting point, we encourage you to visit the EDGE website and create a user profile in the EDGE App. Choose your building type and then input your project details to verify that your project can reach the minimum standard of 20% less energy, 20% less water, and 20% less embodied energy in materials. Then click on “Apply for Certification” button to obtain a precise quotation and register your project.

Our video demos on How to Meet the EDGE Standard, How to Register a Project, and How to Certify a Project will be helpful to you along your journey. Certification providers and pricing information are also available here.

Please note that EDGE certification has two stages: design and construction. Each stage mirrors the other, except that a site audit is required at the construction stage. Upon completion of the design stage, a preliminary EDGE certificate is awarded, which enables marketability of your project with the EDGE brand. Upon completion of the construction stage, a final EDGE certificate is awarded. The cost of certification covers both stages. If your project is already built, only the construction stage of certification is required.

EDGE certifiers serve as third party partners that assess the work of licensed EDGE auditors. EDGE certifiers are selected based on their capability to provide outstanding certification and auditing services at high volume, in addition to building relationships with a wide range of important stakeholders within a given country. Our global certification providers, which have networks throughout the world, are GBCI and Sintali-SGS. In some countries, there are local certifiers which either have exclusive rights to provide their certification services or operate in tandem with the global certifiers.

The first step is to become an EDGE Expert, which requires training as well as taking and passing the EDGE Exam.

Once you have become an EDGE Expert, you can then advance to becoming an EDGE Auditor, if there is demand in your respective country for certification and if the certifier(s) operating in the country where you work are interested in hiring EDGE Auditors. EDGE Auditors are accredited by EDGE certifiers, with different eligibility and training requirements depending on the provider. Please reach out to the certifiers operating in your country for more information.

EDGE Experts encourage the construction sector to design and build green by serving as trusted and experienced advisors. They bring their skills, insights, and thorough understanding of the EDGE software to instill confidence in clients that a project is certifiably green. At the individual level, becoming an EDGE Expert results in greater knowledge, career growth and an opportunity to promote your work. At the firm level, credentialing your team helps to upskill your practice while attracting and retaining fresh talent.

The first step to becoming an EDGE Expert is to complete EDGE Experts training. Training opportunities can be found on the EDGE website. The cost of EDGE Experts training depends on the provider, location and whether it’s online or in-person.

During the training, you’ll learn how to quantify the value of passive and active design elements, how to determine which energy and water-saving systems and solutions are best for a particular location and climate, and how to measure the collective impact of design decisions in the aggregate. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of the EDGE software, you’ll also learn about the EDGE standard and certification process.

Following the training, you must pass the EDGE Exam, which is available in English, Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Indonesian. The EDGE Exam costs $100 and can be taken either at a Prometric test center or online at a location of your choice.

Once you have become accredited, you can promote your status as an EDGE Expert on your resume, business card, website, and LinkedIn profile and appear on EDGE Experts Around the World.
For greater detail on the process to become an EDGE Expert, please visit our EDGE Exam Prep page.

Instructions to change the project name:

1. Log in to the EDGE account.
2. Kindly click on the project which needs to be edited from your dashboard.
3. Sub-project would be listed at the bottom of the same page.
4. Scroll to the bottom, you can find 3 vertical dots in the sub-project overlay.
5. Click on that. Now you will get a drop-down with a Change project name option.
6. Click ‘rename’, a tab will pop up.
7. Kindly make the necessary changes and save the same.

All project transfer requests are self-service requests. Kindly request the Project Creator to follow the procedure mentioned below to transfer all the required projects to your email id. After successful transfer, you would be the project creator for all the projects and the projects will be removed from Project Creator’s dashboard.

1. Kindly request Project Creator to login to the EDGE application.
2. Open the project that needs to be transferred.
3. Click on the “File” Dropdown near the “Save” button.
4. Select the “Transfer Project(s)” Button from the dropdown.
5. You will be able to see the Transfer project overlay. Kindly enter the email id to whom the project is intended to be transferred. Your project would be transferred to the email entered.

Please follow the below guidelines to change the certification stage.

1. Kindly log in to your EDGE account.
2. Open the “Dashboard”
3. Click on the project to which you want to change the certification stage.
4. Open the project and Navigate to the “Project details” section.
5. There you can find a drop-down to change the certification stage.
6. Click and save the change.

The certification stage of your sub-project would have been successfully saved.

Changing the Login Id of the EDGE App is a simple self-service request. Kindly follow the below steps to change the Login id.

1. Kindly login to your EDGE App.
2. Click on your name on the top right corner and Navigate to the profile section in that.
3. Scroll down and you will be able to see the “MODIFY EMAIL LOGIN” button.
4. Click that button, Fill in the details of the new email id.
5. Now click on the “SAVE AND LOGOFF” button.
6. A success message will indicate the action is completed.

Changing your password on the EDGE App is a simple self-service request. Kindly follow the below steps.

1. Kindly login to your EDGE App.
2. Click on your name on the top right corner and Navigate to the change password section.
3. A window pops up. Enter your old password, new password and confirm password.
4. Now click on the “SAVE” button.
5. A success message will indicate the action is completed.

1. Click on the link “forgot your password?” in login page.
2. A window pops up. Enter your email id.
3. Now click on the “Send” button.
4. An email will be sent to you with password reset instructions.

Deleting the sub-project is a simple self-service request. Kindly follow the below instructions to delete the sub-project from your dashboard.

1. Kindly log in to your EDGE Account.
2. Click on the “Dashboard” button and open your Dashboard.
3. You can find the list of projects that you have created.
4. If you scroll right in the Dashboard. You can find the delete button as the last option.
5. Kindly click on the delete button and confirm the same. Your sub-project would be permanently deleted.

Note: If you have Registered your sub-project, the delete button would be disabled. In this case kindly write to your certifier, asking them to revoke the registration of your sub-project, Once the sub-project is successfully revoked, you can delete the desired sub-project.

Adding Auditor is a simple self-service request. You may do this yourself using your certifier admin login. Please follow the below steps:

• Click “EDGE Experts and Auditors” section from the top right corner dropdown.
• Search for a particular EDGE Expert and click on the email id.
• Click Issue Auditor license on the overlay that appears and follow the prompts.

Once the Auditor license is issued, the new auditor will be listed in the EDGE Auditor tab. You may also revoke the licenses of auditors which are not active currently.

Kindly follow the below guidelines to Reject and send the sub-project to the client.

1. Log in to your EDGE Auditor account.
2. Open My Audit workflow in your dashboard.
3. Select the sub-project you want to reject.
4. Click on the reject button on the sub-project overlay. Refer to the below screenshot.
5. An overlay will get opened.
6. Reject one measure in that sub-project and give the Auditor comments and save the sub-project.
7. Provide Auditor comments in the sub-project level comments section and then reject the sub-project.
8. The sub-project will be sent back to the client, and it will be put in Auditor feedback status.

Prerequisites: Basically, all sub-projects and Master projects that you are trying to merge should be created by you.
Merging your sub-project with the Master Project is a simple self-service request, kindly follow the below steps.

1. Login to your EDGE account.
2. Open your Dashboard.
3. Select all the sub-projects and the Master projects you need to merge.
4. Click on the Merge Button and The Merge overlay will open.
5. Select the Name of the Master Project to which you need to merge these sub-projects.
6. Click OK to confirm your Merge operation.
7. Now you will receive a success message as a pop-up. Congratulations your sub-projects have been successfully merged.

Adding subproject to the registered master project is a simple self-service request. The master project should be created by you.

1. Please create a new project. Click on “Create New” from dropdown “CREATE”.
2. Go to Project Details section and start typing the registered Project name.
3. You will get a suggestion of your project name just below the project name input field. Please select your project name from the suggestion. You will now see that all other fields in the Project gets auto populated.
4. Fill all the mandatory fields in the design page and click on “Calculate and Save” button.
5. Click on Save. Your subproject will be associated with the registered project. Then you can proceed with filling other details and upload documents to send for audit.

Kindly create subprojects by copying the registered project using “Save As” feature. This will help you create associated subprojects that will be Registered.

Please Note: Only Project creator will be able to create a copy. Use Save As feature on the EDGE app to create a copy of the subproject. Please follow the below guidelines.

1. Kindly log in to your EDGE account.
2. Open the “Dashboard”.
3. Click on the subproject which you want to create a copy.
4. Open the subproject and Click on the “File” Dropdown near the “Save” button.
5. Select the “Save As” option from the dropdown.
6. Modify the Subproject name, choose With Documents/ Without Documents.*
7. Go to Project details section. Start typing Project name. There will be a suggestion of your project name.
8. Select the suggested name. You will see that all the other fields in Project details section gets auto populated.
9. Fill the other details in Subproject details section and click on Save button on top right corner.
10. A confirmation box pops up to confirm the project name and subproject name.
11. Click on Save button. Your subproject will be copied and will be associated with master project.

You should be able to see the copied project on your dashboard.

* Please Note: With documents means your subproject will contain the documents uploaded in post-construction stage of the existing subproject, and without documents means your subproject will not contain any documents uploaded earlier.

Instructions to share project:

1. Log in to the EDGE account.
2. Kindly click on the project which needs to be shared from your dashboard.
3. Sub-project would be listed at the bottom of the same page.
4. Scroll to the bottom, you can find 3 vertical dots in the sub-project overlay. Click on that.
5. You will see a drop-down with a share subproject option.
6. Click “Share Subproject”, a tab will pop up.
7. Provide email id of registered EDGE user from your team.
8. Choose any one access type from dropdown.
9. Click on share button.

Your project will be shared with the team member.

Instructions to download project certificate:

1. Log in to the EDGE account.
2. Kindly click on the project from your dashboard.
3. Sub-project would be listed at the bottom of the same page.
4. Scroll to the bottom, you can find 3 vertical dots in the sub-project overlay. Click on that.
5. You will see a drop-down with a download preliminary/ post-construction certificates option.
6. Click on the option and the certificate will be downloaded.

Certified EDGE Experts with relevant teaching experience and green building work experience (including collaborative work experience as an EDGE Expert in at least one EDGE certified building) are eligible to apply for this role. EDGE Experts interested in serving as EDGE Faculty may apply directly through the EDGE platform: User profile –> EDGE Exam tab –> EDGE Faculty Application button

EDGE Experts interested in serving as EDGE Faculty may apply directly through the EDGE platform: User profile –> EDGE Exam tab –> EDGE Faculty Application button

EDGE Experts interested in serving as EDGE Faculty may apply directly through the EDGE platform: User profile –> EDGE Exam tab –> EDGE Faculty Application button

Only certified EDGE Experts with relevant teaching experience and green building work experience (including collaborative work experience as an EDGE Expert in at least one EDGE certified building) are eligible to apply for this role.

EDGE exam Version 3 is currently available in seven languages – English, Bahasa, Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, and Vietnamese

Yes, there are free sample questions available for the EDGE Expert Exam Version 3 in English. You can access them through the following link: https://edgebuildings.com/marketplace/edge-experts/exam-prep/

The EDGE Faculty license is valid for two years only.

Only certified EDGE Experts with relevant teaching experience and green building work experience (including collaborative work experience as an EDGE Expert in at least one EDGE certified building) are eligible to apply for this role.

The following documents are required for the application:

1. EDGE Expert certificate
2. Cover letter addressing the candidate’s;
   • Interest,
   • Suitability, and
   • Plans for executing training over the following year.
3. Curriculum Vitae (CV) in PDF format, including relevant teaching experience and green building work experience.

There are no country boundaries for training.

Approved candidates will be able to download their license from the EDGE platform.

Yes, Interested Faculty members must renew their license after two years.

Online/In-person EDGE Expert trainings – certified Faculty members are authorized to conduct these trainings.

Pre-Recorded EDGE Expert training – only two authorized entities, GBCI (U.S. Green Building Council) and GBCSA (Green Building Council South Africa), provide Pre-Recorded EDGE Expert training.

There is a version control policy for the EDGE software. Whenever changes are made to EDGE, a new version number is assigned. If you open a previously saved project in a new version your results may be impacted. Projects registered in an older version that are under certification review can be certified for a period of up to four years. Version numbers are indicated on the upper left-hand corner of the EDGE software, and on the pdf feature and EDGE certificates.

EDGE expects that the project owner will have a fairly good sense of the user of the property that is being targeted and how that user fits into the economic strata of the given city, in order to achieve accurate projections. In general, the higher the income of the homeowner, the greater the predicted use of energy and water will be.

If the units are all the same size, then the perimeter can be divided by the total number of units on one floor. If the units are of different sizes, then the wall area can be measured for each unit type and then an average can be calculated. When in doubt, leave the default as is without entering meters in the input field provided.

While many aspects of EDGE are calibrated at the country level, this is not true for embodied energy in materials. The materials database is the first of its kind in the world and is meant to express a global average, not a precise figure for a given country. While energy and water reductions in EDGE represent monetary savings to consumers while protecting natural resources, the value of less embodied energy in materials is intangible from a cost perspective but of significant benefit to the global environment.

Defaults in the materials section are constantly being improved and will evolve considerably in the near future. The EDGE software will become more closely calibrated to actual practices in countries around the world.

The list of materials included in EDGE is growing all the time. If you know of a material that is used frequently that is not included in the dropdown menus, it can be added to the database. Simply notify us at edge@ifc.org.

EDGE now allows the inclusion of a primary and secondary material for internal and external walls, flooring and window frames. Simply choose the primary material and indicate the percentage, and the opportunity to add a secondary material will appear.

The EDGE App uses grid emissions factors for greenhouse gases (GHG) published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). EDGE uses the ‘Combined Margin Grid Emissions’ factors for ‘Energy Efficiency’ projects from the ‘Harmonized IFI Default Grid Factors’ (available here). UNFCCC produces the data in accordance with the International Financial Institution (IFI) Framework for a Harmonized Approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting (available here). The grid emissions data is updated every year.