A tribute to Prof David MacKay

Professor David MacKay, author of the 2008 book 'Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air', died last week aged 48.

Senior Policy Manager Michael Rieley writes about his contribution to the 'energy debate'.

David MacKay was not a proponent of any one of the many ways that we can generate clean power.

Professor Mackay loved maths, physics and the objective rational argument.
And he loved applying these fundamental principles to the often political and at times emotional debate on the future of energy.

In 2008, in his book ‘Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air’, David spelled out, with detailed maths disguised as back-of-an-envelope calculations (and wry good humour), what we must do to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

To him, it only mattered that we agree there’s a need to move towards a sustainable energy mix.

As long as we agree on that, to paraphrase, then it’s probably best to leave the laws of physics and maths to determine the right way forward.

Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air continues to inform the work that we do here at Scottish Renewables (including resolving the odd argument about whether unplugging our appliances makes a real difference to how much energy we use).

I can imagine that a well-thumbed copy of the text is equally at home on the desks of many a civil servant at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Through the book, and through many impassioned public appearances, David helped to create the space for objective, evidenced debate around renewables set against the alternatives.

He helped people see the contribution wind, solar, hydro and the rest could REALLY make to our energy future.

In doing so, he helped move the industry on in the public’s perception from being ‘the socks and sandals brigade’.

He made politicians, business and, most importantly, the public sit up and take notice.
Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air was dedicated to

“those who will not have the benefit of two billion years’ accumulated energy reserves”.

In its introduction, David spelled out the issues facing the world – and laid out his plan to educate the great British public:

“This heated debate [about where our energy comes from] is fundamentally about numbers.
"How much energy could each source deliver, at what economic and social cost, and with what risks?
“But actual numbers are rarely mentioned. In public debates, people just say ‘Nuclear is a money pit’ or ‘We have a huge amount of wave and wind’.
“The trouble with this sort of language is that it’s not sufficient to know that something is huge: we need to know how the one ‘huge’ compares with another ‘huge’, namely our huge energy consumption.
“To make this comparison, we need numbers, not adjectives."

David wrote, and the world listened.

His passing last week is a tragedy because of his age, and because he was a father of two young children.

But his legacy is that, thanks to him, we have an energy debate that is rational and honest.