Designing for Greater Efficiency (DfGE)
Learn to design and market green buildings.
Green Buildings in Context
The drive towards sustainability in the built environment represents both a challenge and business opportunity for building design professionals. And it is something that simply cannot be ignored. Designers must develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to support the built environment’s move onto a low-carbon path.
Designing for Greater Efficiency (DfGE) is a course aimed at senior building design students and working professionals (i.e. architecture, structural and building services engineering), offered online and in a university setting. DfGE covers the fundamentals of energy and resource efficiency measures in building design from a technical and commercial perspective.
The course uses case studies and examples to teach students how to design for resource-efficiency and how to sell those designs in a commercial setting. DfGE is offered by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to encourage resource efficiency in the construction on sector.
How to Sign Up for the DfGE Course?
DfGE online is a 16-hour course that can be taken at your own time and pace. Learners will have three (3) months to access course materials and to take the course. The final design project will be submitted online for evaluation by an assigned evaluator.
It is recommended that learners have a working knowledge of database software (i.e. MS Excel), architectural and engineering drawings, and basic mathematics. Information about the DfGE online course is available for download here.
If you have any questions, please contact edgelearn@ifc.org.
Option 2
Take the Course Through an Affiliated University
To learn how your institution or university can work with IFC, please contact the EDGE Team.
DfGE is also offered to students through affiliated universities as a 20-hour course. Students will have the opportunity to learn in a richer academic environment from professors trained in designing for resource efficiency. If you are affiliated with one of the following universities, we encourage you to explore taking the DfGE university course.
| Country | University |
|---|---|
| Columbia |
|
| Ghana |
|
| Indonesia |
|
| South Africa |
|
| India |
|
| Vietnam |
|
Why take the DfGE course?
- Develop critical thinking skills, quantitative skills, and design approaches
- Conceptualize and integrate green features across multiple disciplines and building types
- Quantify the impact of design strategies on energy, water, and embodied energy in materials using IFC’s EDGE building design software
- Articulate a compelling business case for sustainable design
- Communicate design strategies and choices effectively with clients and other building stakeholders, including owners, investors, and other design team members
- Demonstrate knowledge of green measures and their relative cost-benefit implications
Course Outline
Module 1
Module 2
Form, Skin & Climate
Module 3
Engineering Architecture: HVAC & Controls
Module 4
Lighting & Photovoltaics
Module 5
Water & Materials
Module 6
Making the Business Case
Module 7
Final Design Exercise
Upon successful completion of the DfGE course, students will receive a certificate of completion.
Take the Designing for Greater Efficiency course today.
The DfGE online course received significant funding through the EU.
This post is also available in: Portuguese (Portugal) Spanish Vietnamese
Marketing
Resources
EDGE Experts
EDGE is currently funded by the UK Government with original funding by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Additional support has been provided by Austria, Canada, Denmark, ESMAP, EU, Finland, GEF, Hungary and Japan.