The Engineers Next Door
This podcast is about turning the complexity of the energy transition into plain language, real conversations, and ultimately, a practical plan for Western Australia. We’ll bring in guests with different—and sometimes competing—views, because better plans come from robust discussion, not talking points.
Less talk. More planning. This is about how the transition will get done—so we can get on and build it.
Episodes
Aug 18, 2026
Aug 18, 2026
40 min
Welcome to the second episode of The Engineer's Next Door. In this episode we sit down with Mike Johns, Chair of Chemical and Process Engineering at UWA and Research Director of the Future Energy Exports CRC.
Mike's route into research ran through five years on an oil refinery before a chance conversation on a beach sent him to Cambridge and then eventually a relocation to Perth, where today he works at UWA on the techno-economics of energy systems (amongst other things). Mike takes us through one of the key economic challenges of the energy transition: solar, wind and batteries have become dramatically cheaper per megawatt hour, but not necessarily at the hours they are needed.
This was a fascinating conversation on both the role of research in enabling the energy transition and the economic realities of reducing emissions in WA.
This episode is hosted by Nathan Hayward and Howard Thomas, members of theEngineers Australia WA Energy Transition Working Group.
Jul 12, 2026
Jul 12, 2026
39 min
In the first episode of The Engineers Next Door, we hear from Jai Thomas, Coordinator of Energy at Energy Policy WA, on how the WA state government is planning for Western Australia's energy transition.This episode is hosted by Max van Someren, a member of the Engineers Australia WA Energy Transition Working Group.