Podcast: Reducing CRE Energy Costs with Physical AI, with R-Zero CEO Jennifer Nuckles

Jennifer Nuckles is CEO of R-Zero, a physical AI platform that connects building data to continuously uncover energy savings and improve performance, delivering 20-40% HVAC energy savings with no major retrofit required. She previously served as EVP at SoFi and CMO at Zynga, and spent nearly a decade as a Global Business Lead at Clorox. She is a board member and chairperson of the American Lung Association and a trustee at UC Riverside. Based in San Francisco.

(02:04) From room intelligence to physical AI
(03:51) Buildings have known about waste for decades
(05:00) What changed: hardware costs, software, and regulation
(07:33) Energy as a constraint
(08:12) Local Law 97
(10:08) The end of piloting: choosing and deploying
(11:20) R=Zero model
(14:23) Building efficiency investments
(17:40) Savings Expectations: Qualcomm, Stanford Children’s
(21:03) Energy as an NOI lever: 20-40% HVAC savings
(23:53) The autonomous building continuum
(25:22) What building owners get wrong about energy operations
(28:32) Collaboration superpower: Walt Disney and Yannick Noah

🏙️ Learn more:
–Visit R-Zero
–Jennifer Nuckles on LinkedIn

🏙️ In-person Events:
–Finance Forum: NYC | 11/3
–State of Office Forum: NYC | 11/4
–Breakthrough Awards Breakfast: NYC | 12/2
–All upcoming Commercial Observer events

🏙️ Virtual Events:

–Spotlight Case Study: Inside the AI Transformation at Cushman & Wakefield: 10/8
–AI & Innovation Forum: 11/18

🏙️ Connect with Tangent:
-Edward Cohen on LinkedIn
-Zach Aarons on LinkedIn
-Tangent on LinkedIn