Journal of
Heat Transfer

Guest Editorial

Sunrise Delayed but the Sun Shines Brightly: The Energy-Sustainability
Quandary and Legacy of Professor Frank Kreith

The imperative of conserving energy resources, acerbated by
the ever-rising global demand and consumption, has been acutely
underscored by many global events in the last two decades. The
cause of energy security that has engendered worldwide conflicts
has been recognized and debated ever since the oil embargo ofearly 1970s (Merrill, K. R., 2007, The Oil Crisis of 1973-1974: A
Brief History With Documents, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston,
MA; Jacobs, M., 2016, Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis andthe Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s, Hill andWang, New York). This has been further interlaced with multifaceted issues relating to climate change, including environmental
degradation and the inherent energy-water nexus that pose additional entanglements in our insatiably energy-centric world. This
has enormous economic, social, and political implications, andthere is a compelling need to organize our resource consumption
in a sustainable manner. Sustainable development warrants novel
solutions and strategies for mitigation and abatement of all interconnected issues.
One of the earliest advocates, articulators, and policy influencers in the efforts to achieve sustainability goals was the Late
Professor Frank Kreith (1922–2018; Fig. 1). In fact, it was his pioneering work and efforts in the 1960s that led to the development
and deployment of much of the initial solar energy systems in the
U.S. [1–6]. His own personal hands-on experience with renewableenergy was to install a retrofit solar hot water system in his own
home in the 1960s. This experience was then extended to several
commercial properties owned by him, and the activity was pursued into the 1980s, albeit with a brief interruption in the mid1970 s due to a very tragic event in his family. In the 1960s, withfunding from the space program of the time, he also presented ashort course on radiation to NASA engineers that led to his firstbook on solar radiation heat transfer for applications in spacecrafts
as well as solar power plants [3]. Frank subsequently collaborated
with his long-time colleague and friend, Jan F. Kreider, to publish
the first of its kind book in 1975: Solar Heating and Cooling [7].
This scholarly and professional partnership continued to produce
some of the finest books and references in solar energy [4,5], as
well as other engineering application engagements.
Perhaps the shining example, if one may use this solar metaphor, of his drive, initiative, and foresight is his role in the establishment of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) in 1977 inGolden, CO. The idea, first conceived in 1974, was motivated by
the experiences and outcomes of the 1973–1974 oil embargo [8],and the push to move away from oil-dependence as a majorenergy resource. This effort was further driven by Frank’s own
passionate commitment to solar and alternate energy, and thedefinitive call made in early 1977 by President James E Carter,
Jr.: “With the exception of preventing war, this [energy crisis] is
the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes.
Journal of Heat Transfer

The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do
not act quickly. … …” SERI functionally came into existence inJuly 1977 and a little less than a year later, as shown in the photograph in Fig. 2, President Carter visited Golden, CO, to dedicate apermanent site. Unfortunately, the country and much of the world
has yet not entirely headed the warnings of 1977 and an extended
energy crisis, compounded with the energy–water nexus and climate change, is upon us that demands urgent action.
In September 1991, SERI was renamed as the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and designated a national
laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by President
George H.W. Bush. Frank had contributed immensely to the workand mission of SERI and had worked there, prior to the transition
to the new DOE laboratory, in various capacities for a decadefrom 1977 to 1987. His work at SERI included numerous seminaland path-breaking initiatives in solar energy, ranging from developments in liquid fuels, design of economical concentrating collectors, efficient domestic hot water heaters, high-temperature
receivers for solar-thermal electric systems, ocean thermal energy
conversion systems, thermal energy storage, and industrial process

Fig. 1 Professor Frank Kreith, Ph.D.: Dec. 15, 1922 (Vienna,
Austria)–Jan. 8, 2018 (Boulder, CO)

C 2020 by ASME
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Special Section: Memorial Festschrift for the Late Professor Frank Kreithheat conservation, among others. A key innovation of Frank’s
work was the development of advanced direct-contact condensers
that gave a viability fillip to ocean thermal energy conversion, andalso subsequently led to the publication of an authoritative monograph on the broader subject [9]. While at SERI, Frank was also
instrumental in proposing and then initiating the launch in 1980 of
the first of its kind solar energy research archival journal: theASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering. This, incidentally,
coincided with the centennial celebration of ASME (1880–1980),
and he served as its founding senior technical editor from 1979 to
1989. His farewell editorial [10] is instructive of both the historical context and persisting issues in alternate (nonfossil-fuel based)energy and sustainability. Later in 2014, and to celebrate Frank’s
91st birthday, a festschrift issue of the Journal of Solar Energy
Engineering was published.
Frank Kreith not only influenced public policy vis-a-vis energy
and sustainability with his scholarship, research, and engineering
innovation, but actively worked to do so. In this context, he served
as a legislative fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for four years (1987–2001) postleaving SERI. By
participating in a plethora of testimonies, scientific reviews, andother such engagements he was able to persuade the outcomes ofsome legislations. During such interactions with various stakeholders from different US States, he began investigating solidwaste management. This work was further spurred by the unusual
news headlines of that time (1987) of a barge named Mobro 4000,
which was loaded with heaps of trash and it sailed from New
York City along the east coast to Belize and back seeking a port
to dump its load.1 This led NCSL to ask Frank to organize a twoday conference dealing with this issue at Breckenridge, CO, in1988. Based on the papers and presentations at this event, andother testimonies during his tenure at NCSL, Frank edited andpublished the first handbook on solid waste management in
1993–1994. The subsequent second edition was co-edited andpublished in 2002 [11], was later translated in Chinese, and thecompendium has served as a critical input in formulating wastemanagement policies worldwide.
This work segued to integrated waste management and wasteto-energy for combined heat and power. Use of biomass andlandfill waste in combustion systems for producing steam for district heating and power began to gain traction in Europe, andFrank traveled across the globe, consulting, advising, giving seminars, and much more. In the following years, his work expanded
to include energy conservation, alternative fuels, utility restructuring, environmental pollution, and viable transportation, all1
https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/long-island-garbage-barge-left-islip30-years-ago/

050301-2 / Vol. 142, MAY 2020“… [it is] the story of perhaps the most extraordinary journey in modern
Jewish history. One that is at once very sad and uplifting, and fullof hopeful warmth. Sad, because of the extremely painful
circumstances and events of that time and the reminder of how
human history has many a times displayed unimaginable violence.
Yet the narrative is uplifting and inspirational in the remarkable
strength of Jewish people who came to Cuba as refugees during
WWII; of their grit and fortitude in creating a space for meaningful
lives beyond and above the exceptional hardships of the time. And it
is a warm, hopeful story as it chronicles the exemplary Jewish lives
that evolved in the accommodating space in Cuba … … of thosedays. The remarkable human spirit this story depicts is indeed thetrue Jewel of human history!”

As the quirks of history would have it, Frank and Marion werein Havana, Cuba, on Sept. 11, 2001, when the world saw anotherhorrid example of unimaginable violence when Al-Qaida terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City.
My own personal, more intimate collegial journey with Frankbegan when he invited me to join him and Mark Bohn to coauthor the seventh edition of his classic text book: Principles ofHeat Transfer [17]. This invitation was at the suggestion of myown mentor, the Late Professor Arthur E. Bergles [18–20], who
had been approached by Frank for ideas of revising and updating
the book to meet evolving engineering design and educational
needs. Was this fortuitous destiny, or a fateful realignment of stars(or mentors, in this case)? For it was the second edition of thisbook that I had studied heat transfer from in my own undergraduate education at the Indian Institute of Technology—Madras,
Chennai, India; I still have my well-preserved copy of this 1965
print of the book. Needless to say that I enthusiastically accepted
the invitation, and thus began not only my own collaboration withthe textbook but the expansion of my work on energy conservation and sustainability [21,22]. The seventh edition of this classic
textbook was published in 2011 (Fig. 3(a)), and this was followed
up in 2018 with the eighth edition (Fig. 3(b)); in the interim,
sadly, Mark Bohn passed away. Again, as fortunate circumstancesof life would have it, the printed copy of the latter edition of thebook was released in late 2017 well before the passing of Frank
Kreith in early 2018. I surely do not have enough words to express
my deep gratitude for this collaborative opportunity, and perhaps
the celebratory photo in Fig. 4, taken at the publicity launch of theseventh edition during the ASME IMECE 2011 in Denver, CO,says it all. Frank was indeed a mentor, friend, and sage, who is
and will be missed in these trying times as we attempt to come togrips with goals of energy conservation and sustainability.
The wisdom, novel insights, and experience of Frank Kreith
was admired and respected by colleagues and friends worldwide.
2

https://forgottenjewelsfilm.com
https://forgottenjewelsfilm.com/trailer

3

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Fig. 2 Photo taken in May 1978 at the Solar Energy ResearchCenter (SERI) in Golden, CO, during the permanent site dedication: L to R—Dr. Frank Kreith, President Jimmy Carter, and
Dr. Paul Rappaport (then SERI Director); note SERI was
renamed in 1991 and is now the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

evolving cornerstones of seeking sustainable energy usage andmanagement. His expertise in sustainability [12] in its multifacetted issues [11,13–16] became renowned internationally, and Frankwas sought out through several groups, organizations, and agencies (ICHMT, NATO—Scientific Affairs Division, UN, etc.).
With that his globe-trotting took him to the former Yugoslavia(the part that is Serbia now), Japan, Russia, Turkey, India, Nepal,
China, and Cuba.
Of course, Cuba had a special meaning to the professional visit,
as Frank’s wife Marion had lived there for many years. She had
traveled with other Jewish refugees from WWII Nazi Germany
and had worked in diamond cutting and polishing, an industry that
had been established in Cuba by Belgian refugees. In fact, Frankand Marion Kreith’s daughter, Judy Kreith, in collaboration with
Robin Truesdale, has made an acclaimed documentary film basedon their lives: “Cuba’s Forgotten Jewels, a Haven in Havana”.2
My own assessment of this film is best summarized in the following note that I had written3 to Judy, Marion, and Frank:

Fig. 4 The author (Raj M. Manglik) with Professor Frank Kreithin Denver, CO, during the ASME International MechanicalEngineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE), November
2011, at the exhibition booth of the publisher Cengage Learning, and the launch of their co-authored book, Principles ofHeat Transfer 7e.

This is amply reflected in the many awards and honors bestowed
upon him. He was a life Fellow of ASME, was elected Honorary
Member in 2004, and had been active in its Solar Energy Division
since 1955. He was also a Fellow of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Solar
Energy Society (ASES), and a member of the International Solar
Energy Society, Sigma Xi, and Pi Tau Sigma. Some of his honors
included: ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award (1972), ASME
Worcester Reed Warner Medal (1981), ASME-AIChE Max Jakob
Memorial Award (1986), ASES Charles Greeley Abbot Award(1988), ASME Ralph Coates Roe Medal (1992), WSE Washington Award (1997), ASME Medal (1998), and ASME Edwin
Journal of Heat Transfer

Church Medal (2001), among many others. In 2006, the Solar
Energy Division and the Advanced Energy Division of ASME
established the Frank Kreith Energy Award4 in recognition of his
contributions to heat transfer and solar energy.
With the global leveling of our energy-centric economy [23],the goals of sustainability are perhaps most acutely underscoredby the need for not only conservation of primary energy resources,
but also their conversion, utilization, and recovery in every industrial, commercial, and domestic application. The concomitantengineering problems have a variety of viable solutions, particularly with the use of heat and mass transfer enhancement techniques [24–26]. Several others are outlined by the ensuing papers inthis memorial section of the Journal of Heat Transfer, dedicatedto the life and engineering legacy of Professor Frank Kreith. They
include consideration of low-temperature salt hydrates by Professor Van P. Carey and co-workers (L. Gagnon and D. Helmns) for
developing thermal energy storage systems for power plants. Professor Gershon Grossman and co-workers describe some intricacies and technical challenges of building a type of absorption heatpump for recovering low-grade heat energy (typically waste heat).
A computational technique that allows a more effective and precise estimation of local heat transfer coefficients has been outlined
by Professor Srinath Ekkad and colleagues. The use of compound
enhancement, where two or more techniques are used together[25], has been addressed by Professor Roop Mahajan andco-investigators in their paper on the enhanced heat transfer performance of metallic foams under jet impingement. To develop
adaptive vent systems for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning(HVAC), Dr. Keskin and Dr. Menguç have employed a complex
system approach that combines cyber infrastructure, physicaldynamics, and social/human interactions in the analysis. Anotherpaper by Dr. M€uller and Dr. Steinfeld evaluates the performanceof concentrated solar energy-driven pressurized reactor for thermochemical gasification of carbonaceous particles. And finally,4
https://www.asme.org/about-asme/honors-awards/achievement-awards/frankkreith-energy-award

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Fig. 3 Co-authored editions of the classic textbook, Principles of Heat Transfer, which was first published in
1958 as the first comprehensive book on the subject: (a) seventh edition, 2011, and (b) eighth edition, 2018; all
published by Cengage LearningRaj M. Manglik
Fellow ASME
Thermal-Fluids and Thermal Processing Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering,
University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0072
e-mail: Raj.Manglik@uc.edu

References[1] Merrill, K. R., 2007, The Oil Crisis of 1973-1974: A Brief History With
Documents, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston, MA.
[2] Jacobs, M., 2016, Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s, Hill and Wang, New York.
[3] Kreith, F., 1962, Radiation Heat Transfer—For Spacecraft and Solar Power
Plant Design, International Textbook Co, Scranton, PA.
[4] Kreith, F., and Kreider, J. F., 1978, Principles of Solar Engineering, Hemisphere Publishing, Washington, DC.
[5] Kreider, J. F., and Kreith, F., 1981, Solar Energy Handbook, McGraw-Hill,
New York.
[6] Kreith, F., and West, R. E., 1980, Economics of Solar Energy and Conservation Systems, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

050301-4 / Vol. 142, MAY 2020

[7] Kreider, J. F., and Kreith, F., 1975, Solar Heating and Cooling, Hemisphere
Publishing, Washington, DC.
[8] Lifset, R. D., 2014, “A New Understanding of the American Energy Crisis of
the 1970s,” Historical Soc. Res., 39(4), pp. 22–42.
[9] Kreith, F., and Boehm, R. F., 1988, Direct Contact Heat Transfer, Hemisphere Publishing, Washington, DC.
[10] Kreith, F., 1989, “Ten Years in Review—A Farewell,” ASME J. Sol. Energy
Eng., 111(4), pp. 265–266.
[11] Tchobanoglous, G., and Kreith, F., 2002, Handbook of Solid Waste Management 2e, McGraw-Hill, New York.
[12] Kutscher, C. F., Milford, J. B., and Kreith, F., 2018, Principles of Sustainable
Energy Systems 3e, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
[13] Kreith, F., and West, R., 2004, “Fallacies of a Hydrogen Economy: A Critical
Analysis of Hydrogen Production and Utilization,” ASME J. Energy Resour.
Technol., 126(4), pp. 249–257.
[14] West, R. E., and Kreith, F., 2006, “A Vision for a Secure Transportation System Without Hydrogen or Oil,” ASME J. Energy Resour. Technol., 128(3),pp. 236–243.
[15] Kreith, F., 2000, CRC Handbook of Thermal Engineering, CRC Press, Boca
Raton, FL.
[16] Kreith, F., and Goswami, Y., 2017, Energy Management and Conservation
Handbook 2e, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
[17] Kreith, F., and Manglik, R. M., 2018, Principles of Heat Transfer 8e, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.
[18] Manglik, R. M., 2014, “Commemorating the Life and Times of Art
Bergles (1935 2014): He Pedaled Far and Wide, Made a Difference …
and the Trail is an Enriching Legacy,” J. Enhanced Transfer, 21(2–3), pp.
iv–vii.
[19] Manglik, R. M., 2014, “The Imperative of Heat Transfer Enhancement Wherever There is a Temperature Difference: The Life and Legacy of Professor
Arthur E Bergles,” J. Enhanced Transfer, 21(2–3), pp. 89–110.
[20] Manglik, R. M., Jensen, M. K., Bar-Cohen, A., and Ayub, Z. H., In 2014,“Memoriam: Professor Arthur E. Bergles (1935–2014), the Pioneering Advocate of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation,” ASME J. Heat
Transfer, 136(12), p. 120101.
[21] Manglik, R. M., and Jog, M. A., 2016, “Resolving the Energy–Water Nexus
in Large Thermoelectric Power Plants: A Case for Application of Enhanced
Heat Transfer and High-Performance Thermal Energy Storage,” J. Enhanced
Heat Transfer, 23(4), pp. 263–282.
[22] Manglik, R. M., 2019, “Enhanced Dry-Cooling System and Method
for Increasing Power Plant Efficiency and Output,” U.S. Patent No.
10,227,897.
[23] Friedman, T., 2005, The World is Flat, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.
[24] Manglik, R. M., 2003, “Heat Transfer Enhancement,” Heat Transfer Handbook, A. Bejan and A. D. Kraus, eds., Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, Chap. 14.
[25] Manglik, R. M., and Bergles, A. E., 2013, “Current Progress and New Developments in Enhanced Heat and Mass Transfer,” J. Enhanced Heat Transfer,20(1), pp. 6–15.
[26] Manglik, R. M., and Bergles, A. E., 2013, “Characterization of Twisted-Tape
Induced Helical Swirl Flows for Enhancement of Forced Convective Heat
Transfer in Single-Phase and Two-Phase Flows,” ASME J. Therm. Sci. Eng.
Appl., 5(2), p. 021010.
[27] Kreith, F., 2014, Sunrise Delayed—A Personal History of Solar Energy,
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Scotts Valley, CA.

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for another use of thermal energy storage in a power plant, Professor Jane Davidson and colleague (F. Carlson) evaluate its integration for increasing plant operational flexibility, thereby incentivizing renewable energy and decarbonizing the grid. It is self-evident
that the gamut of engineering science explorations represented bythese papers are indeed a fitting tribute to Frank Kreith’s legacy.
The exceptional life journey of Professor Frank Kreith, so eloquently and endearingly narrated in his memoir [27], was one of
joyful celebration and unwavering grit in the face of tribulations.
It traversed an extraordinary path from escaping the violence ofNazi Germany during WWII, as a 15-year-old child, aboard a
train from Vienna, Austria, to England, and subsequently to theshores of USA, to the ensuing legacy of the immense body of scientific explorations and technological innovations. The title of myeditorial and eulogy is affectionately adapted from that of his
autobiography as a tribute to all that he did and shared. In closing, and on behalf of his many friends and colleagues, we honor
his memory with this special issue and panegyrize: Frank lived along, eventful, and momentous life with an undaunted assiduousand a highly magnanimous spirit, and made a transformative difference toward achieving the ideal of sustainable wellbeing of ourworld!