Young professor hoped cut the 'emissions twaddle' about climate change

Prof Sir David MacKay
- his aim was cut the
"emissions of twaddle"
about climate change.

Professor Sir David MacKay, who has died aged 48, was a Cambridge University physicist who set out to cut the "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 UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Read David Mackay’s obituary in today’s Melbourne Age -“Scientists cut the 'emissions of twaddle' about climate change.”