Energy, Transport and Sustainability Symposium
Energy, Transport and Sustainability: Discovering Pathways to 2040 was a two-day symposium showcasing New Zealand energy transport research and facilitating discussion on research and policy priorities. Papers from the symposium are now available online below.
This symposium was made possible through collaboration between NERI and the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, with sponsorship from the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Economic Development, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and Land Transport New Zealand.
The first transport systems in New Zealand were trails, trolleys, trains, and ship landings. Since that time, investment and development has been driven by growth. The fuel for this growth has nearly always been available at a quantity and price that posed no barrier to expansion of industries, urban developments and lifestyles. These familiar and expected circumstances are changing.
New Zealand faces serious challenges in moving to a sustainable transport system. Significant changes will be needed in fuel sources, transport networks, vehicle types, behaviours, expectations, institutional and market structures, policy settings, freight logistics, energy networks, urban form and information systems.
Research and innovation will be key drivers of these changes. Much will depend on research that develops solutions to NZ’s unique mix of circumstance. There is an urgent need for accurate science and technology information to inform transport energy decisions at all levels. There is also an urgent need for the research and policy communities to engage in the critical debates that ensure policy directions are supported by the best available science.
Transport is immensely complex, and because of this many different disciplines are involved in transport-related research – engineers, economists, physicists, marketers, psychologists, geographers, IT specialists, and many others. Creating sustainability in transport energy will involve these disciplines working together to solve the more intractable problems.
Research presentations, in oral and poster forms, were made on Thursday June 26, 2008. The oral presentations were selected to ensure coverage of critical issues relevant to New Zealand’s urgent need for sustainability in transport energy, namely urban form and planning, electric vehicles and vehicle technology, travel demand and behaviour change, and fuel policy and emission reduction.
International key note speakers Professor Alan McKinnon and Professor Reid Ewing opened Day Two followed by four workshops, namely Decoupling Freight and CO2, Less CO2 by Design, Changing Behaviour – Prices, Planning and persuasion, and Creating the Climate for Innovation – adoption of new technology.
Papers and posters presented.
Papers
Haobo WangTransport Research and Evaluation, Ministry of Transport Dr-Ing Jean-Paul Thull
Transport Studies, Lincoln University Paul Minett and John Pearce
Trip Convergence Ltd Dr. Susan Krumdieck
Advanced Energy and Material Systems Lab
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury Montira Watcharasukarn, Susan Krumdieck (University of Canterbury, Department of Mechanical Engineering), Andre Dantas (University of Canterbury, Department of Civil Engineering), Richard Green (University of Canterbury, Computer Science Department) Kenneth Gillingham (Stanford University), Jonathan Leaver (Unitec (NZ) Sustainable Energy Research Group) Patrick Farrell and Ralph Chapman
Victoria University of Wellington Dr Mike Duke, Timothy Anderson
Department of Engineering, The University of Waikato Vince Dravitzki and Tiffany Lester
Opus Central Laboratories Michael Dale, Susan Krumdieck, Shannon Page, Kerry Mulligan
University of Canterbury
Posters
Rupp, Kerstin J.Sinclair Knight Merz, Wellington, New Zealand Dejan Djukic
School of Engineering and Technology, Massey University, Wellington K. Dissanayake, M. Scott, A. Abdelkader, G. Waterhouse and H. Idriss
Department of Chemistry, The University of Auckland.
Workshops (Day Two)
The PowerPoint files from the workshops on day two of the symposium can be found http://ips.ac.nz/events/previous_events-2008.html
