If you trawl through the older posts, you'll notice that I am a big fan of Professor David MacKay's book Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air. He has since been appointed as a government advisor. I'm pleased because he believes in a no-nonsense approach to working things out. I'm in favour of numbers. They make a debate more precise. He's good at providing figures. I've checked a lot of my own consumption figures to test his claims.
In the farming supplement of the The Cumberland News 16 October 2009, Austen Davies lays into Professor MacKay in his View from the Trough column. The article starts really well - I agree with a lot of the commentary. Nor does it bother me that Austen Davies is vehemently against wind farms. I'm not sure where I stand on that issue. I love the mountains and the way I read the book is that Mackay thinks too much land would be needed so it's not really feasible.
But I don't like a level of debate that descends to personal attacks. "Wildly staring eyes of Vulcan-looking Professor David MacKay". So I've written a letter in defence of the book! Let's see if it gets published. Now is this citizenship?
