Sustainable Energy--Without the Hot Air

[Tsukasa Buddha]

This has been out for a few years, but I didn't come up with another thread upon searching.

This is a free book available online here. MacKay tries to examine our energy usage and our potential sustainable energy sources using a unified metric. The math tends to be fuzzy, but he often refers to a legitimate study to double check. For calculating energy sources, he takes really broad assumptions of scalability and economics, but then he dials it back in the end. Some of his big pet peeves are the people who tell us to unplug our cell phone chargers and the people who mix numbers and units around to get a big and impressive quote.

When Googling, I only found more basic and accepting face value reviews. Is his work generally on target?

He also has a fun calculator here.

 

[quarky]

Thanks for the link. i gave it a brief perusal, and had no argument with it.

 

[Almo]

http://xkcd.com/1007/

 

[xtifr]

http://xkcd.com/1007/

Randall does love extrapolating! http://xkcd.com/605/

 

[Farsight]

This has been out for a few years, but I didn't come up with another thread upon searching...

When Googling, I only found more basic and accepting face value reviews. Is his work generally on target?

Yes. The book is correct. Mackay now works for DECC. And there really is a lot of hot air blown out by people who talk about sustainable energy and climate change. They fly to places like Cancun in their private jet.

 

[jiggeryqua]

Yes. The book is correct. Mackay now works for DECC. And there really is a lot of hot air blown out by people who talk about sustainable energy and climate change. They fly to places like Cancun in their private jet.

As an undergraduate of an environmental degree we used to receive frequent guest lectures from notable figures in the field. For Sir Crispin Tickell (diplomat, and "leading international authority on climate change and environmental issues"), we convened not in our usual, functional lecture theatre but in the Great Hall, and were graced with the attendance of the Vice Chancellor. Sir Crispin generated some hot air for a while, telling us how he regularly flies to China to advise the Chinese on sustainability. Then he asked us all to reduce our use of kettles and turn the tap off when we brush our teeth... Even if he felt video conferencing was impersonal (or ineffective), we built an empire without aeroplanes, you can catch a train to China and maintain contact with homebase. There isn't the sense of urgency to sustainability issues that would be hindered by a few days setting a good example before a meeting where the aim is to persuade a burgeoning nation not to make the same mistakes we did.

 

[Farsight]

Sounds par for the course, jigger. This sort of hypocrisy reminds me of some bishop warbling on about "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God". Said bishop of course, lives in a palace, and he wants your money.