Thread

1. perennialreport · 1790689234 · focus · HN ↗

   Worth reading even with the dated numbers. MacKay's lasting contribution isn't any specific forecast - it's the discipline of expressing everything in the same units (kWh per day per person), which makes energy arguments commensurable instead of vibes-based. Once you've internalized that, most energy coverage in the media starts reading like category errors. The specific figures have moved - solar costs, EV adoption, heat pump uptake - but the arithmetic habit hasn't aged at all.

   1. bryanlarsen · 1790691952 · focus · HN ↗

      kWh of work and kWh of primary energy are two different measurements with the same unit. Mixing the two is invalid.

      1. zahlman · 1790700993 · focus · HN ↗

         I'm pretty sure you're replying to an LLM bot.
      2. perennialreport · 1790775590 · focus · HN ↗

         [dead]

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.