The Holy Spirit in John's Gospel

Trying to get my head around the Holy Spirit in John Gospel (for NT2 essay). As a result I've been reading the work of Carson and Kostenberger (Baker Exegetical) in their Commentaries (Carson generally is better, better at answering my questions I think), as well as a new book by Kostenberger and Swain in the NSBT series (Father, Son and Holy Spirit in John)...Basically really helpful stuff, but there is one point where I think I disagree with Carson and Kostenberger though (but not sure if my argument is sound). This is on the reference in John 3:5-8. Is it a reference to the person of the Holy spirit (ie born of water and the Spirit, so NIV, TNIV, ESV and other trans), or is it just a reference to spiritual renewal? While I get the fact that grammatically v5 'water and Spirit' are governed by the preposition ek, I think the reference is a reference to the person of the Holy Spirit because of the strong allusion to Ezekiel 36:26-27 where Yahweh promises cleansing and renewal by water (yes), and promises to place HIS SPIRIT in Israel. Also v 8 does appear to be a reference to the person of the Spirit (by analogy with wind). With that background is it not possible to John 3:5-8 as a reference to the person of the Spirit? Just getting my thoughts down.