David J.C. MacKay: Thank You and Goodbye

I was very sad to learn that David J.C. MacKay passed away on April 14, 2016.

When I first learned of peak oil 8 years ago I went deep into renewable energy technologies looking for a solution. One of the people that influenced me the most was David J.C. MacKay with his book “Sustainable Energy – without the hot air”. David was a breath of fresh air with his unbiased scientific analysis of data rather than the fact-free blather that is commonly used to support some favored position.

His book is available to download for free here.

David convinced me that it is impossible to maintain our current lifestyles with renewable energy. We must dramatically reduce our total consumption and we would be wise to do it proactively before nature forces us.

Here are a couple excellent talks by David….

Here is the last interview with David a few days before he died. I find it interesting that on his death bed the thing that fascinated him most was our denial of reality. It’s sad he did not read Varki before he died.

And lastly a nice obituary by Mark Lynas.

Thank you David. You had a great mind and worked hard to make the future better.