Industry-Trusted Platform Ensures Uninterrupted Access to Critical Energy Data and Analytics for Commercial Real Estate Professionals

NEW YORK, May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Cambio (www.cambio.ai), the leading AI-driven commercial real estate operations platform, today announced the immediate launch of Cambio Vault, a free alternative to ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM) in response to mounting uncertainty over the future of the EPA’s widely used building benchmarking tool. Last year, EPA’s ENERGY STAR program for commercial buildings and industrial plants helped businesses and organizations avoid $14 billion in energy costs.

This move comes after recent reports raised serious concerns that the longstanding national repository for building energy data may soon be defunded or dismantled, putting at risk the data and reporting capabilities relied upon by thousands of commercial real estate owners and operators nationwide. ENERGY STAR is currently used to benchmark half a million buildings and last year was credited with helping businesses avoid an estimated $14 billion in energy costs.

“As the industry’s trusted technology partner, Cambio is stepping up to fill the gap,” said Stephanie Grayson, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Cambio. “We’re proud to do our part during these uncertain times and offer a free, enterprise-grade alternative to Portfolio Manager. The launch of Cambio Vault honors our commitment to support the real estate industry with data empowerment. Cambio Vault ensures that the market can safeguard the data it needs to undertake critical benchmarking, reporting, and retrofitting processes — without disruption or risk of data loss.”

Perhaps best known for its famous energy efficiency label for consumer products, ENERGY STAR has been essential to the commercial real estate industry, serving as the backbone for data management of properties and companies. Started in 1992, the program enables property owners to measure the energy performance of their buildings, while helping them comply with state and local energy benchmarking ordinances that require the use of Portfolio Manager.

Cambio Vault integrates seamlessly with ESPM, enabling clients to push and pull building energy data for enhanced dashboard analytics, reporting and retrofit insights. Beyond energy performance data, Cambio’s AI algorithms ingest building characteristics like age, type, location, and HVAC type via large language models (LLMs) to generate retrofit recommendations. With today’s announcement, Cambio extends its capabilities to serve as a standalone, no-cost solution for organizations seeking continuity in energy tracking.

Key capabilities of Cambio Vault include:

Secure data storage and historical record keeping
Ongoing synchronization with ESPM to maintain the data backup
Automated building-level energy and emissions tracking
Visual dashboards and advanced analytics for performance insights
Compliance-ready outputs for local benchmarking ordinances and ESG frameworks

The potential discontinuation of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager represents a critical juncture for commercial real estate. Cambio’s free alternative ensures years of progress in building energy efficiency, market transparency, and sustainability reporting will continue uninterrupted. By providing this solution at no cost, Cambio reaffirms its commitment to the industry’s environmental goals and regulatory compliance needs—preserving both the invaluable historical data and forward momentum that ENERGY STAR has established for the sector.

About Cambio
Cambio is an AI-powered commercial real estate operations platform. By transforming raw building data into actionable insights, Cambio helps owners, investors, and operators drive building performance, ROI and decarbonization. Learn more at www.cambio.ai.

Media Contact 
Emily Torrans 
Mahoney Communications Group 
394965@email4pr.com
(212) 220-6045

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SOURCE Cambio

Powercast’s RFID-powered, wire-and-battery-free sensor monitoring system customized for data center equipment monitoring takes home top honors

PITTSBURGH, May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Powercast Corporation, the go-to source for the entire spectrum of wireless charging solutions, announced that RFID Journal LIVE! has honored Powercast’s RFID-powered, wire-and-battery-free sensor condition monitoring system customized for data centers as its Best New Product 2025.

The judges, led by founder and former RFIDJournal.com editor Mark Roberti, evaluated the six Best New Product finalists onsite at the RFID Journal LIVE! conference held May 6 – 8 in Las Vegas, NV, with the winner announced on May 8. As winner, Powercast will present a one-hour webinar later in 2025, and will also do a 40-minute conference session during the 2026 edition of RFID Journal LIVE!

“Considering the outstanding technology exhibited by the finalists, we are honored the judges chose our RFID-powered, wire-and-battery-free sensor monitoring system for data centers as the Best New Product 2025,” said Charles Greene, Ph.D., COO and CTO of Powercast.

Roberti noted that all of the finalists had innovative products, but the judges were unanimous in selecting Powercast’s energy harvesting, passive light, temperature and humidity sensor as it will open up new applications in health care, pharma, and the food supply chain, as well as managing data center assets.

“Instead of an expensive active tag with a battery that needs to be replaced every few years, companies can now use Powercast’s low-cost passive sensor, which requires no maintenance,” Roberti said. “And unlike other passive sensors, the Powercast product can write sensor data to the tag’s memory, so companies can learn if a product was outside of temperature requirements at some point. We think this passive sensor will have many applications across several different industries.”

Powercast collaborated with Asset Vue to customize its RFID sensing technology – known for maintenance-free monitoring because it can power itself perpetually from RAIN RFID inventory readers instead of wires and batteries – to monitor the temperature and humidity of mission-critical equipment stored on metal server racks without adding to the complexity of a data center.

Customizations included halving the size of Powercast’s existing RFID sensors to fit into server racks, and redesigning the RF receiving antenna to avoid interference from the metal racks while still providing long range wireless power to the sensors. The system is currently in beta testing at Asset Vue’s data center, and Powercast plans to roll it out later this year.

RAIN RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology leverages the RFID readers used in inventory management, logistics and retail applications to connect to the internet any item bearing an RFID tag, allowing users to identify and locate all such items. Adding Powercast’s wireless RF-energy-harvesting chips and sensors (temperature, humidity, light, etc.) to these RFID tags elevates their functionality beyond identification to enable real-time smart monitoring that results in smarter supply chains capable of locating live shipments, tracking the state of perishable goods and more, all without wires and batteries.

How Powercast’s RFID Condition Monitoring Technology Works, Leveraging RFID Readers as its Power Source:

Since standard RAIN RFID readers emit an RF signal that’s similar to that of Powercast’s RF wireless power transmitters, these readers can substitute for the transmitters, becoming the source of wireless power that perpetually powers the sensor tags without wires or batteries, eliminating the need/expense for hardwiring sensors, ongoing battery maintenance, or installing custom readers or RF transmitters.

Powercast’s Powerharvester® PCC110 receiver chip embedded in the RFID sensor tags harvests RF and data sent over the air from any RFID reader within range, which can be up to 40 meters depending on the application. A single RFID reader can power many tags at once located over a large area as long as they’re within range. Readers can be fixed infrastructure installed in the ceiling, or handheld readers used by employees.

The Powerharvester chip then converts the RF to usable DC to both power the tags and communicate data. A microcontroller and sensors receive power, measure conditions, and report that data back to the reader.

Peel-back adhesive on the backs of the RFID sensor tags make them easy to install anywhere.

About Powercast
Powercast Corporation, founded in 2003 and based in Pittsburgh, PA, is the go-to resource for wireless charging solutions, ranging from short to long distances and from microwatts to kilowatts, with the industry’s broadest technology portfolio backed by over 300 patents worldwide. We design, develop, and manufacture semiconductor chips as well as complete wirelessly powered products, enabling various levels of customer integration.
Powercast’s solutions include RF power-over-distance charging, high-performance inductive charging systems, and low-power sensors with up to 25-year battery life. With flexible magnetic resonance systems, Powercast positions itself as the industry’s most comprehensive source for wireless power technology. For more information, visit https://www.powercastco.com.

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SOURCE Powercast

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Tourism in Latin America is booming and Uber is helping travelers explore its top destinations with greater ease. In places like Cancún, Punta Cana, Cartagena, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, Uber makes it simple to move between airports, beaches, and must-see neighborhoods while discovering authentic local experiences.

Puerto Rico is now at the center of this effort with the launch of the latest phase of Uber Te Espera, a travel-focused program developed in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico. The initiative arrives at a time when the island is gaining international attention, with high-profile cultural events like Bad Bunny’s 2025 residency drawing global visitors.

As part of the initiative, all active Uber drivers in Puerto Rico will receive free access to a virtual training that includes modules on Puerto Rican history, culture, food, and local events. This equips drivers with valuable information to share with visitors throughout their journey.

“Uber drivers are often the first point of contact when someone visits the island. By giving them the tools to become travel ambassadors, we enhance the visitor experience while supporting the growth of local tourism in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico,” said Carolina Coto, Communications Manager for Uber in Central America and the Caribbean.

Uber Te Espera builds on the Explorer’s Guide, which helps users navigate top attractions and food spots through in-app tools. The partnership also places local gastronomy at the forefront. Uber Eats launched a curated section highlighting Puerto Rican restaurants that serve traditional dishes like mofongo, asopao, and alcapurrias—some of the most ordered items by tourists on the island.

People from around 120 nationalities have used the Uber app to explore Puerto Rico. Among the most visited locations by international users are Old San Juan, the Cruise Terminal, T-Mobile District, and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

This new chapter strengthens Uber’s role in helping travelers explore Latin America with greater connection, cultural relevance, and local flavor.

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SOURCE Uber