As noted in "Vaclav Smil: "The Mega-Wars That Shaped World History"" the good Professor and the MIT Press published an open-access version of that book to the internet. Here's another, profound beyond Smil's polymathic musings, last referred to in 2021's
"Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air"
I was told the links in yesterday's "How To Understand Energy Before COP26 Kicks Off Tomorrow" were not working for some readers. I do not know why and am without technical assistance until tomorrow.
So here is another attempt to share the best (accessible) book ("http://www.withouthotair.com/") on energy you are likely to find, wrapped with a different repost.
"Green economic growth is an article of ‘faith’ devoid of scientific evidence"
The author of this essay, Nafeez Ahmed, has, over the years written
some things that are borderline brilliant and some things that are
totally whack. I think the piece below is closer to the former than the
latter, especially in light of his generally left-of-center political views. It takes some courage to be the straight-shooter when the powers-that-be are obsfucating.
The
key point is that in the current discussion of changing humanity's
sources of energy there is a great glossing-over of just how difficult
the transition will be; You end up with a lot of pressure groups,
poseurs and posturing politicians who: state the problem - do a lot of
hand-waving - paint the picture of the 'broad sunlit uplands' at the
end of the journey. The people who do this tend not to be very
accomplished in mathematics, physics or engineering. Hence the
handwaving in the middle.
For years when folks wanted to engage me in talk of energy and energy policy I would ask them if they were familiar with David MacKay and had they read his book "Sustainable Energy – without the hot air"
If they had not, I would recommend they read the book and continue our conversation at a later date, MacKay could teach them more in a couple hours than they could glean from me in a couple weeks.
He was more formally known as Sir David John Cameron MacKay Kt, FRS, FInstP, FICE, Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. Before he became the first Regius Professor of Engineering at Cambridge he hung his hat at the University's Cavendish Laboratory where 29 people who went on to win Nobel Prizes, mainly in physics but also the odd chemist, had also hung out over the years.
The gist of his book is that the coming transition will not be easy.
The Economist called it a "tour de force", the journal Science "... a cold blast of reality ... a must-read analysis..."You should read it. And there is really no reason not to. Concurrent with it being published, Dr. MacKay put it online on a dedicated website: "http://www.withouthotair.com/".
And if the reader is interested we put some of our earlier links in 2016's "Energy and Artificial Intelligence Expert Professor Sir David J.C. MacKay Has Died, Age 48".
Related,
2014: If It's April It Must Be Time to Visit Professor MacKay and His Map of the World
2021: How To Understand Energy Before COP26 Kicks Off Tomorrow
Cambridge is keeping this website on the net:
