How New York City's data centers and Rockefeller Center could help power a climate solution

• Data centers and large commercial buildings waste a lot of heat.
• The utility Con Edison plans to capture the heat to help power underground thermal energy networks.
• The networks are more efficient and less-polluting than gas, and could help meet climate goals.

Less than a block from the bustling Chelsea Market on the west side of Manhattan, data centers hum 24 hours a day in a nondescript building.

All that computing power generates an enormous amount of heat, which has to be removed to keep the equipment cool and prevent outages. That heat becomes wasted energy when it's vented out the roof.

All that computing power generates an enormous amount of heat, which has to be removed to keep the equipment cool and prevent outages. That heat becomes wasted energy when it's vented out the roof.