Florida Polytechnic University’s Dr. Gerardo Carbajal is helping advance the global conversation on energy security and resilience through a two-volume book series published by Springer. The mechanical engineering professor co-authored and edited the series, which explores how emerging energy technologies can improve reliability, strengthen energy security and help communities navigate growing environmental challenges.
The series, “Energy and Coastal Security, Resilience, and Workforce Development,” examines renewable energy, carbon capture and the social and economic effects of climate change, with a focus on the United States and the Caribbean. It brings together perspectives from diverse fields such as engineering, marine biology and physics.
Carbajal said the books are intended to help researchers, industry professionals and policymakers better understand energy challenges and explore potential solutions.
“Our goal was to provide fundamental knowledge and applications for people in the field to help them understand the issues with renewable energy,” Carbajal said.
The first volume introduces the fundamentals of energy conversion, wind and solar power, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The second volume explores how these technologies can advance energy security, coastal security and workforce development.
Carbajal contributed expertise in heat pipe modeling, simulation, design and thermal systems.
Puerto Rico serves as a living laboratory throughout the series, providing a setting to examine energy challenges and potential solutions. Carbajal said the island’s reliance on fossil fuels makes it a useful case study for exploring alternatives, including small nuclear reactors.
The approaches examined in the books could also contribute to energy solutions elsewhere in the United States and internationally, he said.
The books grew out of a collaboration involving Purdue University and other institutions through Blue Integrated Partnerships, which brings together universities and federal partners to address energy security and coastal resilience.
Carbajal recruited several Florida Poly students to conduct advanced research through the partnership’s summer program. He recently submitted proposals for the third and fourth volumes of the series and said he expects future installments to include contributions from Florida Poly students.
The new volumes would build on that involvement.
“We want the next two books to feature research by our students,” Carbajal said. “Our facilities and resources give them the chance to contribute to work addressing real energy challenges.”
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