Edge Environment staff has returned from participating in the G’ Day USA Trade Mission throughout January. He visited San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York and added meetings in Washington to his itinerary. The main purpose of Edge’s visit was to introduce the Edge’s design tool to the US market (potential collaborators/funders) and investigate the potential for developing US versions of the tool for new commercial mixed use buildings, for fit-out and refurbishment of existing buildings and for housing. Edge’s meetings included the LEED development department of USGBC, the General Services Administration, Tishman Speyer and Goldman Sachs and Bentley, with follow-ups planned with Autocad and Sungevity. Edge’s design tool was well received by all audiences especially its ability to work from design inception, to reveal complex and often counter-intuitive tradeoffs in design decisions and to consider environmental and $cost information side-by side over the life cycle. The prospects for collaboration in developing US versions are very good and Edge Environment will now reconsider its business model for tool development and implementation in both Australia and overseas.
This presentation introduces the ENVEST Au prototype, taking you through the key aspects of ENVEST functionality and use from inception of the design for a new mixed use building anywhere in Australia, revealing environmental and $cost tradeoffs. The presentation concludes with an invitation to potential sponsors and collaborators to take ENVEST from prototype to full software development. In the meantime, Edge Environment offers consulting services to assist design teams or clients by using the ENVEST prototype inside its design processes for a new building. Other consultants committed to a scientific LCA based approach to design may be interested in a collaborative development and license to use the ENVEST prototype.