Dr. Carlos Gamarra is the Vice President of Energy, Air, and Digital Solutions at HARC.
He joined HARC in 2017, where he provides executive-level decision support and serves as department lead. Carlos has a strong track record of leading high-impact, multi-year, multi-million-dollar programs. He is an Advisory Council Member for the Texas Industrial Energy Efficiency Program (TIEEP) and serves as President of the Houston Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers.
Dr. Gamarra began his career as an EPC engineer, designing, constructing, and commissioning industrial plants and energy infrastructure. In 2008, he started his own business as an independent engineering consultant in the energy field. Working part-time as an Assistant Professor at the University of Burgos sparked his interest in research, which culminated in joining the Instituto Tecnológico de Castilla y León in 2011.
In 2020, he received his Doctorate in Community Energy Systems Planning from the University of Burgos, which later resulted in his first DOE-funded project. In 2023, he received the Young Professional Award from the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Alliance for his work on promoting the deployment of distributed generation technologies through the DOE’s Southcentral CHP TAP and Onsite Energy TAP programs.
Since 2017, Dr. Gamarra has pushed the boundaries of innovation in commercial buildings with his work on HARC’s Living Lab, a mid-size commercial office building where different technologies and operation strategies are tested and showcased for other users to adopt. Under his management, the building has been certified Net Zero, LEED Zero, Energy Star Rating of 99/100 since 2019, and a NextGen certification since 2024.
Authored Publications and Related Projects
Riley, S., Bhuva, V., Gamarra, C., & Badoian-Kriticos, M. (2024). Reducing Energy Burden and Flood Damage Using Energy-Water Nexus Approach. Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems. 12(3).
Talei, H., Benhaddou, D., Gamarra, C., Benhaddou, M., Essaaidi, M. (2023). Identifying Energy Inefficiencies Using Self-Organizing Maps: Case of A Highly Efficient Certified Office Building. Applied Sciences. 13(3),1666.
Gamarra, C., Ronk, J. (2019). Floating Solar: An Emerging Opportunity at the Energy-Water Nexus. Texas Water Journal. 10(1), 32-45.
Gamarra, C., Guerrero, J. M., Montero, E. (2016). A Knowledge Discovery In Databases Approach To Industrial Microgrid Planning. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 60, 615-630. (Cited by 66 researchers as of March 2024.)
Gamarra, C., Guerrero, J.M. (2015). Computational Optimization Techniques Applied To Microgrids Planning: A Review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 48, 413-424. (Cited by 435 researchers as of March 2024.)
