NERI News

2010 New Zealand Sustainable Building Conference

2010-03-10T20:17:48Z

Registration is now open for the 2010 New Zealand Sustainable Building Conference, which is to be held at Te Papa from 26-28th May 2010. Beacon and BRANZ are the organisers and major sponsors of this conference, which will showcase a wide range of New Zealand’s current thinking and research on sustainable, innovative and high performance buildings. There are also a number of interesting keynotes who will contribute much to the discussion on ways to progress New Zealand’s building stock – and how that fits within the wider global context. Check out the registration brochure for more info.

Energy scholarship available

2010-02-25T21:30:35Z

Kennedy Trust Scholarship – 2010 – Background Information

The Kennedy Educational Scholarship Trust is seeking applications for the Kennedy Trust
Scholarship. This scholarship is to support a Masters (by thesis) student at one of the
Universities in New Zealand, to undertake research of relevance to the Gas Industry.

The Scholarship honours the outstanding services to the gas industry in New Zealand of the
late Mathew Joseph Kennedy (Senior) and Francis Joseph Kennedy.

It is hoped that this project begins in 2010, but proposals will be considered from
prospective candidates and/or supervisors for projects beginning later than this. The
Scholarship is for a sum of up to $7,000 for one year.

A particular area of relevance to the Gas Industry has been identified as “The Effects of
Supply Chain Dynamics on Consumer Perception of Natural Gas as a Valid Option for
New Zealand”. This may be the thesis title for the Masters, or a similar thesis title would be
considered. Specific topics that may be part of the thesis study are:

Supply chain logistics
The influence of public policy interactions and regulatory process
Climate change issues from a carbon footprint perspective
Technology innovation and commercial arrangements in a competitive market

Potential students may come from various disciplines (not necessarily from engineering) and
there may be different approaches such as measurability, presentation and perceptions.
Guidance and peer review functions through the course of the study are proposed including
six monthly progress reports from the student and supervisor. These will be administered by
CAENZ.

Background reading on issues may be found in:
1 Understanding the Contribution of Direct Use of Gas to New Zealand’s Future Energy
Efficiency Objectives. A report produced for the Gas Association of New Zealand, by the
New Zealand Centre for Advanced Engineering. November 2007 (www.ganz.org.nz/).
2 Recommendation on Direct Use of Gas. The Government Policy Statement on Gas
required the Gas Industry Company Limited to provide advice to the Minister on whether
policies on the direct use of gas might mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and the likely
cost of those policies. In December 2009, the Company provided the Associate Minister
with its recommendation

Enquiries to:
CAENZ, KEST Application Co-ordinator
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140
Phone: +64- 3-364-2478 Fax: +64-3-364-2069
Closing date: 31 March 2010

For an Application Form: go to CAENZ

Demand-Side Energy Research Strategy

2010-02-15T00:40:52Z

Due to increased demand and limits on supply, major changes are required to the way energy is used in New Zealand. As part of navigating this transition in our energy system, NERI was commissioned by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology to put together a Draft Demand-Side Energy Research Strategy for New Zealand. A pdf of this document is now available from here.

Masters and PhD Opportunities

2009-12-14T22:25:08Z

The exciting Energy Cultures project is underway at the University of Otago, and I just received this email from the project coordinator regarding Masters and PhD scholarships. Please contact miranda.mirosa@otago.ac.nz to find out more.

As the Project Co-ordinator for the ‘Energy Cultures’ Research Project, I would like to invite applications for a 3-year PhD scholarship and a 1-year Masters scholarship investigating household energy behaviours at the University of Otago. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to become part of a cross-disciplinary 3-year research project that draws from Consumer Psychology/Marketing (Prof Rob Lawson), Sociology/Human Geography (Dr Janet Stephenson), Economics (Dr Paul Thorsnes), Physics (Prof Gerry Carrington) and Law (Prof Barry Barton).

Many thanks
Kind regards,
Miranda Mirosa

CapMap live

2009-11-23T02:48:12Z

NERI’s Capability Map is now available to the public. If you want information about New Zealand’s energy research capability – energy researchers, their publications, and funded research projects, then this is a great place to start your search. Check it out and please let us know what you think.

NERI is now a Trust

2009-09-09T05:16:54Z

We are pleased to announce that NERI is now a Trust and Gerry Carrington and Janet Stephenson have been appointed as the first trustees.

Formally, the Trust’s purpose is to “enhance New Zealand’s sustainability and to benefit the New Zealand community by stimulating, promoting, co-ordinating and supporting high-quality energy research and education within New Zealand, and to carry out any other purpose or object which relates to energy research and education within New Zealand and is charitable in accordance with the laws of New Zealand.”

In practice, this means the NERI Trust will aim to provide support for the energy research community in New Zealand, by acting collectively in ways that individual member organisations cannot. Steve Batstone, Joe Gamman and Pip Lynch have shown how this can be done and set demanding standards. As a start we will be completing some of the projects started by Steve, Joe and Pip. These include:

1) A Research Capability Map, to provide information about New Zealand’s energy research capability – energy researchers, their publications, and funded research projects. This tool will be available from our website in the near future.
2) A Demand-side Research Strategy to articulate a high-level draft strategy for investment in Demand-side Research.
3) A wiki site for energy information specific to New Zealand.

We are also considering how NERI can support a new Director and will be applying for charitable status. Between 3 and 5 new trustees are to be appointed and many other matters are to be decided. It has been proposed that the inaugural meeting of the NERI members will be in Dunedin on Tuesday 3 November where details of these plans will be discussed. The following day (4 November) is the annual Otago Energy Research Centre’s Research Symposium.

At present, Jonathon Clearwater is the part-time administrator for NERI, so please contact him at admin@neri.org.nz if you have any questions or comments.

NERI returns to voluntary status

2009-06-29T23:11:39Z

Today NERI farewells the 3 fulltime staff; Director Dr Steve Batstone, Education Manager Dr Pip Lynch and research Manager Dr Joe Gamman.
Steve, Pip and Joe have worked tirelessly over the last 2 years to develop NERI into a nationally recognised entity bridging the gap between researchers, govt and industry.
The NERI infrastructure is still in place and please contact Prof Gerry Carrington if you wish to access the NERI network.
An announcement is expected within the next month on the next phase of NERI development. Check the website for details.

New Report: Building Energy Innovation Capacity

2009-06-26T01:58:45Z

This report on how New Zealand can build better energy innovation capability brings together three previous NERI reports and other material relevant to capability building. The Building Energy Innovation Capacity report assesses New Zealand’s need for innovation in the energy sector, analyses innovation processes and structures, and sets out the actions needed in education and research for energy innovation to occur.
A short version of the report (28pp) has been published in hard copy and is being distributed to over 50 organisations in the energy sector (including universities). Both the short version and the full report (78pp) are available as pdf downloads.

Energy Course and Career Hub

2009-06-26T01:55:11Z

NERI has developed an information hub about energy-related university courses and industry careers. The hub helps to make energy courses and careers more visible and better linked to one another. Visitors to the Course and Career Hub can search for career roles in the energy sector and then use the keywords provided to find related university courses. There are also links to further information and career planning resources.

NERI's own Gerry Carrington honoured at the 2009 EECA awards

2009-05-24T22:33:33Z

NERI Founder and Convener Professor Gerry Carrington was awarded the “Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Energy” award at the 2009 EECA Awards, held at the Sky City Convention Centre last week.

The award is granted to those people, nominated by their peers, who have influenced or contributed to the implementation of sustainable energy practices consistently for over 10 years. In receiving this award, Prof Carrington’s contribution to research, teaching and sustainability in New Zealand gets due recognition.

The judging panel noted Gerry’s “reputation as a leader of change based on academic principles, and as an educator of future generations of energy specialists”.

The judges noted they were particularly attracted to his leading the establishment of the National Energy Research Institute.

NERI staff and colleagues within the partnership are delighted for Gerry’s success and we extend our congratulations to all the participants and winners of the 2009 EECA Awards.