EDGe$ (Economic Decision Guide Software) Online Tool, Version 1.0

Designed to support community-level resilience planning, the powerful online EDGe$ Tool, Version 1.0 assists in selecting cost-effective community resilience projects. Produced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the EDGe$ platform-independent app can help community planners and resilience officers, as well as economic development, budget, and public works officials. EDGe$ provides a standard economic methodology for evaluating investment decisions required to improve the ability of communities to adapt to, withstand, and quickly recover from natural, technology, and human-caused disruptive events. The tool helps the user to identify and compare the relevant present and future resilience costs and benefits associated with new capital investment versus maintaining a community?s status-quo. Benefits include cost savings and damage loss avoidance because enhancing resilience on a community scale creates value, including co-benefits, even if a hazard event does not strike. EDGe$ is based on the process found in NIST?s Community Resilience Economic Decision Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems (EDG). The EDG and EDGe$ can be used as standalone tools, but are designed as part of a more comprehensive planning process and in combination with the NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems.