A toolbox of data-driven applications designed to unlock the power of big data for building energy management and policy making was launched earlier this week in Brussels. The newly released MATRYCS toolbox - which was assessed by policymakers, IT developers, research centres and seven municipalities - offers stakeholders from the building sector, including estate managers, building owners, and local and European policy makers, the opportunity to monitor and improve the energy performance of buildings; design facilitation and development of building infrastructure; receive policy impact assessments; and de-risk energy efficiency investments.
The toolbox provides essential input to fulfil local authorities’ climate strategies and assess the impact of individual public measures and investments based on real building-related data. Access to aggregated information from across Europe can support, and legitimise, policymakers’ planning and work.
In a press release from the project, Dr Çağlar Tükel, Directorate of Climate Change and Clean Energy, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey), one of the seven municipalities that helped test the MATRYCS tool, explained:
"The tool demonstrates a transformative approach to climate reporting and impact assessment for more effective urban sustainability. With further refinement, this tool has remarkable potential as a key asset to improve cities' decision-making in relation to their Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs).
An example of the services included in the toolbox is the "SECAPs Decision-Making Support" seeking to convert data provided in annual municipal climate action reports, which are submitted through platforms like the CDP-ICLEI Track or MyCovenant, into a foundation for developing, monitoring, and overseeing the progress of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans.
The MATRYCS services are applicable across different building scales, from buildings as individual entities (building scale), to groups of buildings (district scale), groups of districts (city scale), groups of cities (regional scale), and national and European levels.
MATRYCS was funded by Horizon 2020 and you can find more information about the toolbox here.