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Professor Eric May: the future of energy

WA’s Scientist of the Year talks about the central tension facing humanity and why young researchers should think beyond traditional academic measures of success.
​Michelle Wheeler
​Michelle Wheeler
Freelance science journalist
Professor Eric May: the future of energy
Image credit: Premier’s Science Awards | In Shot Productions

Professor Eric May believes humanity faces a central tension – the need to raise people out of poverty while reducing our impact on the planet.

This week, the UWA researcher was named WA Scientist of the Year at the 2021 Premier’s Science Awards. He has spent the last 15 years studying ways to deliver energy to people as efficiently and cleanly as possible. And he increasingly sees hydrogen playing a big part in WA’s energy future.

“It turns out that Western Australia is really well placed with our world-leading LNG industry to take many of those same skillsets and knowledge and even infrastructure and apply it to this new opportunity,” Eric says.

Video credit: Premier’s Science Awards | Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation

Quantum mechanics on an industrial scale

Eric is an expert in fluid science, thermodynamics, metrology and natural gas engineering.

He currently leads the Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre, working with industry to help grow Australia’s hydrogen export industry.

Part of the CRC’s research looks at how to produce liquid hydrogen as efficiently and safely as possible.

“Making LNG is hard. Making liquid hydrogen is much, much harder,” Eric says.

“It’s several times more energy and 100°C colder, and you actually have to worry about quantum mechanics if you don’t want it to suddenly all boil away.”

While someone like, say, NASA has been making liquid hydrogen for 50 years, Eric says they didn’t have to worry about efficiency.

“On an industrial scale, you really have to be as efficient as possible and get rid of all those reliability challenges,” he says. “That’s really exciting.”

The highs and lows of a career in science

Eric’s research has helped reduce the cost and environmental impact of LNG production, decreased greenhouse gas emissions from coal mines and optimised air conditioning cycles based on new, environmentally friendly refrigerants.

His work has helped difficult offshore gas reserves be developed and advanced carbon capture and storage operations.

And his research led to spin-off company Gas Capture Technologies, which offers a way to capture methane emitted from coal mines, biogas and landfill gas plants.

Professor Eric May
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Professor Eric May

Image credit: Premier’s Science Awards | In Shot Productions
Professor Eric May

But one of Eric’s biggest concerns will feel familiar to many West Aussies – being forgotten by the eastern states.

“Often there are countries to our north that have a better understanding of what’s going on in Western Australia than the east,” he says.

“And COVID has made our scientific and technological isolation even more difficult to manage.

“Building collaborative research projects likely to be competitive in national funding schemes becomes increasingly difficult and might start to limit ongoing success rates.”

How your research impacts the world

Eric’s advice for early-career scientists is to do what you enjoy but also think about the impact of your research beyond traditional academic measures.

“Publishing papers is important, and you need to do it,” he says.

“But you also need to think about how your research can impact the world and how it can be communicated to a broader audience to help them understand the significance of it.

Above all, he says, surround yourself with great people.

“The most important thing, perhaps in any endeavour in life, is to work with great people,” he says. “So try to seek them out.”

​Michelle Wheeler
About the author
​Michelle Wheeler
Michelle is a former science and environment reporter for The West Australian. Her work has seen her visit a snake-infested island dubbed the most dangerous in the world, test great white shark detectors in a tinny and meet isolated tribes in the Malaysian jungle. Michelle was a finalist for the Best Freelance Journalist at the 2020 WA Media Awards.
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Michelle is a former science and environment reporter for The West Australian. Her work has seen her visit a snake-infested island dubbed the most dangerous in the world, test great white shark detectors in a tinny and meet isolated tribes in the Malaysian jungle. Michelle was a finalist for the Best Freelance Journalist at the 2020 WA Media Awards.
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