From the UK Telegraph:
Professor Sir David MacKay, physicist – obituary
Professor Sir David MacKay, who has died aged 48, was a Cambridge University physicist who set out to cut “UK emissions of twaddle” by applying the laws of physics and mathematics to the debate on sustainable energy.
His book, Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air (2009), provided a user-friendly guide to how much energy we consume in our daily lives, the lifestyle changes that would substantially reduce that total, and which kinds of technology would make a difference. Amusingly written, it was acclaimed as a breath of fresh air in the often self-righteous and highly charged atmosphere surrounding the debate about climate change, and led to his appointment in 2009 for a five-year term as chief scientific adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
In an interview with Leo Hickman in The Guardian, MacKay explained that he had decided to write the book because he was tired of the “greenwash” surrounding the energy and climate change issue: “I was tired of the debate – the extremism, the nimbyism, the hairshirt. We need a constructive conversation about energy, not a Punch and Judy show... I wanted to write a book about our energy options in a neutral, human-accessible form.”
The book can be downloaded here: Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air.
Dr. MacKay's website is here: Everything is Connected