Researchers from Florida Tech’s Center for Resilience Science are partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and local nonprofit Little Growers to help underserved communities along the Space Coast prepare for challenges such as extreme heat, flooding, hurricanes and rising energy costs. The initiative, called Space Coast RESCUE (REsilience Solutions for Climate, Urbanization and Environment), began in fall 2024 and is led by professor Steven Lazarus.
The project includes four interconnected research thrusts: atmospheric and future climate modeling; hydrology and compound flooding; building energy resilience; and community science and outreach.
Associate professor Hamidreza Najafi leads the building energy thrust, which focuses on developing practical solutions that help homes and buildings become more efficient, resilient and climate-ready.
The team uses high-resolution future climate projections developed by Argonne National Laboratory, combined with local weather data, to assess how building energy demands may change under future climate scenarios.
The thrust has partnered with Stone Magnet Middle School and more than 10 homeowners who volunteered to host weather stations on their properties, providing microclimate data that supports and strengthens the team’s analyses. Researchers are evaluating the current energy performance of homes in the community, investigating retrofit strategies suited to Florida’s hot-humid climate and developing practical, accessible solutions tailored to the needs of the participating community. The work also explores future climate-ready building design, rooftop solar and battery storage and resilient cooling strategies that can help maintain safe indoor conditions during power outages and extreme weather.
Community engagement has been central to the project from the start. In 2025, the team held two community workshops attended by more than 70 local residents, covering how buildings and energy use affect indoor comfort, utility costs, health and quality of life. That summer, in partnership with Little Growers, the team developed a hands-on curriculum introducing high school students to building science and energy through interactive learning activities.
In summer 2026, the program moved from classroom learning to real-world application. Najafi and mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Muhammed Salih developed an interactive residential energy audit tool and trained the students to conduct home energy assessments. Working alongside mentors from Florida Tech and Little Growers, the students visited homes in an underserved Melbourne neighborhood, performed audits, analyzed the findings and gave participating families a better understanding of their energy use, along with personalized recommendations to reduce utility costs and improve indoor comfort.
“Working on the Space Coast RESCUE project has been a particularly rewarding experience,” Najafi said. “What has stayed with me most is seeing local high school students progress from learning about building science and energy efficiency to conducting home energy assessments and helping families in their own community better understand their energy use, reduce utility costs and improve indoor comfort. It is a powerful reminder that research is at its best when it directly serves the communities around us.”
