Sustainable Energy - without the hot air

Magazine alternatives n°21, 4th quarter 2009

Author : David JC MacKay, Publications : UIT Cambridge
Publication date : 2008, 384 pages, suggested price : 20 euros

The author, a professor at Cambridge University and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change, takes a very caustic approach to analyzing emotionalism and preconceived notions. Going against the prevailing lethargy, he painstakingly recites facts (“Facts! Facts! Facts!”), gives data, compares, asks questions, and gives concrete, discriminating advice that can apply to everyone’s daily life. The book, available only in English for the time being, is a sparkling example of the British sense of humor, which props up his discourse at almost every turn of the page. Did you know, for example, that 55 million birds fall prey to British cats every year, whereas only 30,000 come to a sticky end in Danish wind turbines, which, by the way, represent 9% of the country's power production? It’s a brilliant demonstration, to be read by all the “climaticides” that we are, often in spite of ourselves…