The Edge: Excursion to world’s most sustainable building!

On the 31st of June the trip to the World’s Most Sustainable Building took place. Green Office organized a visit to the Edge Amsterdam with a participation of a diverse group of 28 members both staff and students from the University of Groningen.

After a bus trip to Amsterdam where we got the chance to get to know each other and see how and in which ways each of us got interested in sustainability, we arrived in front of the fancy and impressive building of Deloitte- the Edge. The sustainable approach was obvious from the very beginning: spacious, natural lightening, recycling litter, some vegetation here and there and sustainable snacks at the bar.

However, everything got more exciting once our tour guide Tom start explaining the sustainability technology behind the scene. By making use of innovative smart technology , the light would go on and off depending if someone is in the room, the temperature can be adapted by every employee that uses the rooms and they are using a sustainable and efficient communication based on apps.

Nevertheless, the building is energy neutral and it has the whole rooftop covered in solar panels and also all the parts of the building which are not windows. Moreover, an aquifer thermal energy storage generates all energy required for heating and cooling down the building.

The participants were impressed by the building and we hope that we could integrate at least some good practices in our environment at the University of Groningen.

With this occasion we would like to thank to all the participants and the people who helped organizing this visit and we hope to see you all to our next excursion event!