The UK government has appointed David MacKay Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

David MacKay is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Cambridge University and recently published a book ‘Sustainable Energy - without the hot air’.

Secretary of State Ed Miliband said: “David MacKay is known for making science accessible and helping to explain clearly the urgency and the challenges of moving to a low carbon economy. I want him to bring all of these qualities to the job of advising DECC on how we can meet Britain’s carbon targets and energy security needs.”

Mackay said “Climate change and secure energy are two of the most urgent issues facing the UK and the global community. The solutions must be rooted firmly in the science and I look forward to advising the Government on how it can help deliver these important goals.”

Mackay has caused a mixed reaction amongst renewable energy supporters mainly due to different interpretations of his book. It is easy at first glance to believe he is saying that renewables are just not up to the job of meeting our energy needs. However a different angle as put by Paul on Zerocarbonista is that what he is really saying is that renewables could never meet our present day demands “without considerable inconvenience”.

This is a very topical issue in the renewable energy industry as people expect wind energy projects to cause absolutely no effects on people (e.g they should not be visible from houses, national parks or in fact anywhere). As a population we need to accept that change needs to happen and some of that change may affect us at an individual level.