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CNBC
5 hours ago
- CNBC
How one real estate startup is taking on record heat this summer
As brutally high temperatures bake the nation this summer, cooling is becoming increasingly critical across commercial real estate property portfolios. Landlords are balancing soaring demand with rising costs, putting energy efficiency front and center. The trouble is that most large building systems essentially run blind. Temperatures are set centrally, so they don't know if certain parts of the building are running too hot or too cold. That's why so many office workers sit at their desks wearing sweaters in the summer and then feel overheated in the winter. Now, new technology is taking on the challenge. Runwise, a New York-based technology company, invented its own hardware/software platform to eliminate overheating in large buildings. It recently expanded that to cooling. "We're trying to hit these climate goals, yet right in our literal building we're throwing money away every time you run a boiler when it doesn't need to run, you're wasting money and you're producing carbon emissions unnecessarily that really make nobody comfortable," said Jeff Carleton, co-founder and CEO of Runwise. The company combines future weather algorithms with a wireless temperature sensor network that speaks to a Runwise central control system. That control analyzes the data and then operates the system more efficiently. For example, a 100,000-square-foot building may have just one boiler, but it needs multiple temperature inputs. Runwise would put in 20 to 25 sensors, which take an average based on the user setting and future weather, and then figure out how often to run the boiler. The tech is now installed in more than 10,000 buildings across 10 states, with roughly 1,000 customers, including major real estate owner-operators such as Related, Equity Residential, FirstService Residential, MTA, Port Authority, National Grid, Rudin, LeFrak, UDR, Douglas Elliman and Akam. Runwise claims to have collectively saved more than $100 million in energy costs to date. CNBC's Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox. Subscribe here to get access today. The startup recently announced a $55 million Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures, bringing its total funding to $79 million. Other backers include Nuveen Real Estate, Munich Re Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Multiplier Capital, Soma Capital and Fifth Wall. Carleton said Runwise will use the additional funding to grow the business nationwide and, of course, to incorporate artificial intelligence into its systems. "It's only going to become more and more ingrained in what we build, as we collect data from more and more buildings and build more advanced models on how to run them more efficiently," he said. "We plan to use AI to continuously make our algorithms more efficient."
NBC News
5 hours ago
- NBC News
Dale Earnhardt's widow and son battle over a $30 billion data center on his North Carolina land
Aug. 9, 2025, 8:03 AM EDT By Bracey Harris Far from the roaring speedways, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt was an outdoorsman who liked to hunt and fish. There was plenty of space to do both on his sprawling land near Mooresville, North Carolina, a quiet town 30 miles north of Charlotte. Now that land is at the center of a battle over the future of Mooresville that has galvanized residents and pitted Earnhardt's widow, who wants to develop the property into an enormous data center, against one of Earnhardt's children, who has joined the fight to stop her. The proposed $30 billion Mooresville Technology Park would stretch across 400 undeveloped acres, adding several new buildings and an electrical substation. Teresa Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt's widow, is seeking approval from the Mooresville Board of Commissioners to rezone his onetime sanctuary as industrial land. Tract, a Denver-based company that builds data centers and leases them to technology companies, has proposed constructing a new campus on that site. Kerry Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt's eldest son, is part of a growing group of residents urging the board to vote 'no.' 'My Dad would be livid for his name to be associated' with the project, Kerry Earnhardt posted on Facebook last week, ahead of a community meeting that drew hundreds of people. 'Infrastructures like this don't belong in neighborhoods where people's natural resources will be depleted, wildlife will be uprooted, and the landscape and lives of the people that call this area home will forever be changed.' Teresa Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt's third wife, who was married to him from 1982 until his death in a racing crash in 2001, did not respond to requests for comment. This is not her first dispute over Earnhardt's legacy: A decade ago, she sued Kerry Earnhardt, her stepson, after he started an 'Earnhardt Collection' home and furniture line, saying he was violating her trademark rights in their shared famous last name; ultimately, Kerry Earnhardt prevailed. The Mooresville Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the rezoning after a public hearing in September, but on Friday afternoon Mayor Chris Carney cast doubt on the project's future. Carney, who previously told NBC News he was uncertain on the venture, posted a video on Facebook saying he doesn't feel able to vote 'yes' because Tract hasn't yet said which tech company would ultimately use the data center. And he suggested other board members shared his concerns. 'No matter what, you can only trust if you know who your final partner is going to be, and we just don't know that,' said the mayor, who would only cast a vote if there's a tie among the board's six members. Tract declined to comment to NBC News. A Tract spokesperson said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer Friday that the company was "both disappointed and surprised" and that it was "carefully evaluating our next steps." Representatives for Tract have glowingly pitched the project to residents, saying the center will be 'a good neighbor' while generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the local government. Earnhardt family disputes aside, the fight in Mooresville echoes similar debates across the country as communities grapple with the potential economic benefits and environmental downsides of giant data centers that are swallowing land and resources to feed America's insatiable demand for computing power. Crowds of people have packed meetings from Arizona to Alabama to express fears that these projects could overtax the electric grid, pollute the water and air, and generally disrupt their rural peace with hulking structures emitting a high-tech hum. Supporters, who often include local officials and business development groups, pitch the data centers as a way to infuse economic opportunity and tax revenue into struggling areas and make good use of land that would otherwise sit vacant. The White House is also praising the projects amid the country's artificial intelligence race against China. In July, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to fast-track federal permitting for data centers. There are already more than 5,400 data centers across the U.S., with many more on the way. The consulting company McKinsey said in April that it forecasts roughly $7 trillion in global spending on data centers in the next five years, sparked in large part by demand for processing power to meet the needs of tech companies racing to build and develop advanced artificial intelligence systems. Data centers, often massive buildings dedicated to housing computing and data storage capacity, can strain local power and water resources. A study by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute found that large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day. While tech companies' need for data centers is only growing, opponents of these projects have begun making headway in stopping them. In Arizona, the Tucson City Council on Wednesday voted against Amazon's Project Blue data center, worried that it would raise utility costs. In Oldham County, Kentucky, a data center developer pulled out of a project last month and the county's fiscal court passed a moratorium on data centers after community pushback over environmental concerns. Data Center Watch, a group funded by AI firm 10a Labs that tracks local opposition, found in May that $64 billion in data center developments in the U.S. had been blocked or delayed in the previous year. 'The volume, speed, and effectiveness of local opposition are reshaping the landscape of political risks for the data center industry,' Data Center Watch said in a statement to NBC News. Wendy Reigel, an activist in Chesterton, Indiana, routinely gives advice to other communities fighting data centers after she started a successful movement against a $1.3 billion project in her town last year. She tells those who ask for her help that developers often present the centers as a done deal, but that isn't the case. 'In the end, people need hope,' she said, 'and then they need information, and then they got to work their rear ends off.' That's what the organizers in Mooresville have been doing. About 200 people crowded a Board of Commissioners meeting last Monday, many wearing red T-shirts to signal their opposition to the project. All 10 people who spoke at the meeting raised concerns, questioning Tract's promises about jobs and worrying about the center's demand for water in a drought-prone region. 'Does a data center belong in the middle of a thriving rural residential community?' Kerry Pennell, who lives near the proposed site, said afterward. She helped distribute about 170 'No Data Center' lawn signs that now dot the surrounding roads. 'I don't want an industrial wasteland a mile from my house,' she said. 'I can hear crickets at night.' René Earnhardt, Kerry Earnhardt's wife, was among the speakers at the meeting who advocated protecting the open land and the town's quiet charm from overdevelopment. 'Wealth and power are a destructive combination if used recklessly,' she said. 'There's only so much of this Earth that can be gambled away until there's nothing left.' Tract representatives did not speak at the meeting, but the company has previously pushed back on the residents' criticisms. The nearest residents will hear nothing louder than the thrum of a refrigerator, Tract will pay for infrastructure upgrades that will supply the center with plenty of water and electricity, and the project will generate about 1,000 jobs during construction and 200 permanently, the company said in a presentation. The company currently has 10 projects underway in five states, including Texas, Virginia, Minnesota and Nevada. Donna Jones, 54, was drawn to Mooresville's quiet and safety a decade ago when she and her husband were looking for a place to raise their sons. They bought chickens, then goats and ducks, and they never worried when the boys played outside. 'We had a little farm, and we thought we had paradise,' she said. That little farm is about half a mile from the proposed data center. She worries that the disruption will make it difficult to stay, and just as difficult to leave. 'These are our lives,' she said. 'Our property value. What's going to happen to that? Who's going to want to buy or build a house next to a data center?' In a town where many residents still remember Dale Earnhardt or are friendly with his kin, there is a feeling of protectiveness around the racing star, which extends to the land where he spent time. 'Dale was a hero of mine,' said H.A. Mergen, who spoke at Monday's board meeting. 'This land is Dale's legacy — make no mistake about it. I believe we all know what Dale would want his legacy to be.' Bracey Harris Bracey Harris is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Jackson, Mississippi. Natalie Kainz and Shannon Pettypiece contributed.
NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
Cash's decline gives buskers the blues, but apps keep the green flowing
Natalia Paruz, who serenades straphangers with her musical saw, isn't getting the tips she used to. That was clear on a recent Thursday at the Herald Square station in midtown Manhattan, her gold-colored tip bucket only showing a couple dollar bills and some coins halfway through a three-hour performance during the afternoon rush. 'I have so many people who come to me and say to me, 'I love your music, I want to give, but I'm sorry, I don't carry cash,'' said Paruz, who calls herself the Saw Lady. That's led her to display QR codes for digital payment apps Venmo and PayPal for commuters to send her digital tips. The decline in cash payments is changing business for street performers. With the cash in their tip jars or guitar cases dwindling, magicians and musicians are turning toward digital payments to make money from performing. Nearly half of U.S. adults never use cash in a typical week, according to research from Capital One. Nearly 70% of Americans used cash for 'few if any' purchases in the past year. A vast majority, 87%, of all U.S. transactions were cashless in 2024, and the bank anticipates that by 2027, 94% of U.S. transactions won't involve cash. Cash still reigns among older and low-income Americans, Yale economist David Argente said. Americans ages 55 and older use cash at almost double the rate of 18- to 24-year-olds, according to Federal Reserve data. There's no large-scale data on how people in the United States pay street performers, though the Federal Reserve indicates they are most likely to use cash for payments under $25. Paruz and other performers say busking still mostly draws hard money. Paruz said 70% of her tips still come from cash. New York blues keyboardist Gabriel Aldort, who plays in the city's subways and ferry terminals, said only 5% of his tips are digital. Aldort puts up 'huge' QR codes for apps like CashApp and Venmo, but says his subway audience doesn't get much use out of them. 'I think the vast majority of New Yorkers, even counting the transients, the tourists, have cash,' he said. But performers have noticed that an increasing amount of their tips come from payment apps. Chadd 'Wacky Chad' Deitz, a Boston-based stunt comedian who does backflips off pogo sticks in Northeast cities, has been experimenting with digital payments for 12 years. He now thinks 30% to 40% of his tips come that way. 'If you don't accept digital payments, then you're not going to survive,' Deitz said. Digital payment apps aim to be more 'trusted, familiar, and easy-to-use' ways for gig workers like buskers to make money, Venmo general manager Alexis Sowa said in a statement. A Cash App spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But while performers say digital tipping is convenient, it has also affected how much audiences tip — and not necessarily for the better, said Danny Tangelo, a traveling magician who performs across Western states. He's found cash tips are often higher than digital tips. Digital payments also lack visibility: Deitz thinks people are encouraged to drop in cash or change when they see others do it. 'I do think that there is a little bit of psychology of people walking forward and saying, 'Thank you,' because they might see the QR code from far away, they might have tipped midshow and then walk away,' Deitz said. 'But then people that didn't pay see those people walk away, and they go, 'Well, I guess it's acceptable to walk away.'' For Paruz, digital payments make busking less personal: Audiences keep their distance rather than coming up to her and dropping in a tip. Cash 'fostered communication,' she said. 'People would stop and talk to us.' Apps like Venmo and Cash App also take a small cut of money received for goods and services, which adds up when performers are processing large amounts of digital payments. An alternative is a nonprofit, busker-specific payment site that allows performers to receive tips via Apple Pay, Google Pay and credit card. Berlin-based filmmaker Nick Broad started building the site in 2012 while working on a documentary about street performers. He says digital payments help make sure that buskers get paid what they're worth. 'It's as easy to give a million dollars as $1 on a cashless payments platform,' Broad said. 'You might think that it's worth $89, $10, $15, whatever, which is not the same when you're getting cash out of your wallet and you're fumbling around for change.' But Broad says fewer performers have taken up in the United States compared to countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. He says that could be because apps like Venmo or Cash App are more mainstream here. Although digital payments have helped buskers make up for a decline in cash tips, performers are still struggling. Paruz says she makes less from cash and digital tips than she did when she began performing in the 1990s, while Deitz has hit all-time lows for payment at multiple performances this year. Broadly, Americans are tired of tipping. A survey this spring found more than 40% of Americans think 'tipping culture is out of control.' That has meant many tipped workers in other industries have seen their tips dip. Besides, with the rising costs of housing and food, if audiences want to save money, 'they're going to do it watching a street performer,' Deitz said. That means performers like him don't care how you pay them — as long as you pay. A $2 tip, Deitz said, isn't going to 'sustain a white picket fence and two kids.' For magician Tangelo, though, cash has one additional benefit. 'I have a trick where money appears inside fruit,' he said. 'You can't do that with Cash App or Venmo.'
