If the Lights Go Out

Last week the Dept for Energy and Climate Change’s new chief Scientific Adviser – David MacKay – warned that the UK could face blackouts by 2016 as green energy is coming on stream too slowly.

 But Mr Miliband said, on the Andrew Marr show, that there is no danger of power cuts in the next decade.

Phew.  Thankfully Mr Miliband is more knowledgeable than David Mackay, or we would have been a little worried there.

So who is this man, David Mackay, and why is the government appointing him as an adviser if he is so seriously wrong in his assessment and scare-monger-y when it comes to energy predictions?

Well, according to Cambridge University’s website, he is Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Department of Physics.

Ah, Physics.  That supreme science.  Using that pesky scientific method – methodical and fact based.  Wrote a book – available free online at http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c1/page_2.shtml

I am sure Mr Mackay will be very happy to discover the reasons why the lights will not go out in 2016 once he is settled in his new role in October 09. 

Anyone who has read this blog knows I disagree with politicising climate change.  However, I do have rather a soft spot when it comes to believing physicists and their tenacity for fact and method.  So, just for fun, let us entertain the idea that Professor Mackay is correct in his assessment.

What would it be like if the lights went out?  If we had intermittent cuts in electricity supply?  Take a few moments and close your eyes, how would impact your life?

I’m thinking this; maybe I should all take another look at photovoltaics before I start shelling out on an electric car.