As the Certification and Training Manager at Sintali, I look at a lot of EDGE assessments every day. And what is interesting is that regardless of where the EDGE assessments come from geographically, there are typically common challenges.

Today, I want to share with you my top tips for filling out your EDGE Assessment that will make things easier and quicker for you to move through the EDGE certification process.

Some of these may seem self-explanatory but you would be surprised how often issues come up. Getting into the habit of checking these items properly during the EDGE Self-Assessment period will help you streamline your workflow and decrease the back and forth between yourself, the auditor and the certifier.

A strong start

There are a few things you need to pay close attention to when starting off a self-assessment.

• Pick the correct typology right from the beginning because if you need to switch to another typology after you have filled it in, there is no way to copy or save-as the assessment so you will lose your work.
• Make sure to select the correct location for your project. If your location is not listed, pick a city that is closest to where the project is, or closely resembles that location climatically. Go to the Key Assumptions for Base Case section on the EDGE App and change the monthly average outdoor temperatures to reflect your specific city using data from a reliable online source. You can also change the latitude and the annual rainfall data, if different than the ones listed on the app.
• Input the subproject name as you (or your end client) would like to see on the EDGE certificate. While we can change names once the certificates have been generated, the process is smoother if you prepare for that at the start of the project.

Things that make a difference

For the EDGE assessment to work, the EDGE App needs as accurate design data as possible in order to model your building as correctly as possible.

• Fill out the area schedule as close as possible to the design because this affects the savings of your project and can alter your results. For example, if you are working on a hospitality project, you will need to ensure that you input the correct areas for different segments of the hotel such as guest rooms, the reception, and the dining area, as there are different calculation parameters associated with each.
• Make sure to select and assess all the measures marked with an asterisk on the EDGE App, regardless of whether they contribute to savings. This is important because these measures are required for the energy simulation done on the back end of the software.

Technicalities

All the magic in EDGE happens in the three tabs: Energy, Water and Materials.

• In the energy tab, make sure to select only one cooling system. If the building has multiple cooling systems, you should select the system with the biggest cooling capacity and then include the other systems within that system. For example, if you have a project with a 200 RT air-cooled chiller, a 50 RT water-cooled chiller and a 48000 BTU/h VRF system, you should select air conditioning with air cooled chiller and add the other systems in the calculations of that measure. This work-around will be a thing of the past in the upcoming version of the EDGE App (v3.0.0) as the cooling/heating systems are all agglomerated into one measure that can model multiple systems at once. For the time being, make sure it’s one system selected.
• If you are on the EDGE App and are not sure how to assess something, click on the measure to get guidance. You will immediately be able see the base case, which should help guide you. If you need more detail, you can go to the user guide (simply click on the user guide image on the latter screen) for a more comprehensive explanation. If you are trying to see what kind of documentation you need to comply with EDGE, you should look at the Compliance Guidance section. A quick hint for you: if you go to upload documents within a selected measure, the EDGE App has already organised the section according to the  user guide’s Compliance Guidance structure.
• The list of constructions for the different building elements is quite comprehensive. However, if there isn’t a perfect fit, select a material that closely resembles your material from the Materials Reference Guide. If you’re still unsure, send us an email to confirm.

Calculator frenzy

Getting your calculations right and clearly shown in an audit trail can reduce a lot of back and forth between you and the auditor.

• Use the built-in calculators in the EDGE App whenever possible. There are some very useful calculators in EDGE, for example that for calculating thermal conductance or U-Values . The calculators are a win-win, as you don’t have to resort to external software to do these calculations and at the same time you can use the auto-populated parameters such as the conductivity.
• If you have multiple items that need assessment, for example if you have multiple roof types, you will need to use the weighted average method for calculating that parameter (in this example it will be a weighted average U-value). In such cases, you can use an external calculator (such as an Excel spreadsheet) to calculate the weighted average for the U-value. However, to make things a bit easier, you can use the built-in U-value calculator in EDGE to calculate the individual type U-values. Once you have those values, you can then switch to an external calculator to do the weighted average calculation. Easy peasy. This applies of course, to any calculation in EDGE.

The final check

Ready to push the Submit for Audit button? Pause and make sure to check your work (just like you would on your school exams; or not). Once you submit your EDGE Assessment for audit, the project will be locked and you cannot make any more edits, at least until you get feedback from your auditor. Make sure to triple check before submitting for audit, especially details as to whether your project is a new or existing building, subproject name, or quite simply if it is the right building typology.

Enjoy your auditor’s positive feedback!