Ian Mason

Ian is a Renewable Energy Systems Engineer and as such is interested in how all the components of renewable energy systems interact with each other, and in the design of energy systems informed by the laws of physics, environmental limits and social goals. At the University of Canterbury he created the MEngSt (Renewable Energy) degree, created and taught courses including ‘Sustainable Energy Systems’, ‘Energy Systems Modelling and Analysis’ and ‘Energy, Technology & Society’, and co-created and taught into the core undergraduate paper ‘Sustainable Engineering for a Changing Climate’ which introduced
climate science, mitigation and adaptation into the BE(Hons) (Civil/NatRes) degree. His research outputs include publications on ‘A 100% renewable electricity system for NZ’, ‘Transitioning NZ to 100% renewable energy’, both of which have informed present NZ government energy policy positions, and ‘Offshore Wind for NZ’ which has stimulated a keen interest in developing offshore wind in NZ. Ian has collaborated with social science colleagues on a four-year Marsden-funded project entitled ‘Carbon Neutrality-fact or fiction’, during which time he became interested in environmental psychology. He is a co-founder of the ‘NZ Offshore Wind Working Group’ and is presently researching a project investigating the potential role of offshore wind in a ‘Just Transition’ to renewable energy in NZ.