What does a kilowatt hour look like?

I think that's pretty accessible and could only add to the article's value by answering the question, "What does 'kilowatt-hour' mean?"

DETLA is also a FLA.

http://www.withouthotair.com

MacKay himself, a CalTech-trained physicist, worked at Cambridge. He died about five months ago, noted only modestly at HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11500614

http://itila.blogspot.com/2016/04/index-for-first-23-cancer-...

Of the book, I find a few things particularly illuminating. For starters, it is rather UK-centric, though the concepts are of course generally applicable. Beyond that:

1. It goes through the major uses of energy in modern life. Getting a feel for the comparative magnitudes is quite useful.

2. It compares the various options for renewable energy. It turns out that there's a lot less energy in renewables than would be convenient. Wind and Solar are much of the easy stuff.

3. It mapps out both energy consumption and use by area. Realising how many watts per square meter are used and are available is useful.

4. He really presses the point that solving the energy conundrum requires large changes. Unplugging charging devices won't cut it. Hitting major consumption, especially transport, heating, lighting, and refrigeration, help a lot.

If you're interested in pursuing the issues further, I strongly recommend Vaclav Smil, whose books I've been going through. For a historical view, Smil's Energy in History, and the more recent two-volume book, Sources of Power, by Manfred Weissenbacher, explore how human history has been shaped by access to energy, from gatherer-hunter days, agriculture, coal, oil, and whatever comes next.

Fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

BTW, it's not 10 kW/h, but 10 kWh in a litre of petrol.

> the laptop cells exploded with liquid splashed on the walls in the equipment

The less electrolyte that gets burnt, the less HF generated, which I hope you agree is a good thing.

and more recently, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

How many actually burned? It's a very tiny fraction. Manufacturers recall precisely to avoid the sort of hysteria that statements like yours generate, and it's not any indication of impending doom. The aviation industry is particularly risk-averse, so it's not surprising. But I don't think the risk is very high compared to a lot of other things in our lives, especially when you consider all the lion cells out there of questionable quality in use and yet behaving themselves. China has taken the lead in making 18650s and other lion cells almost as easily available as alkalines, but reports of fires do not appear to have increased anywhere near in a direct proportion to that. (Reports of cells failing to meet capacity specs, on the other hand...)

By all means handle with care (as you should with any energy source), but lion cells are not lethal weapons that will instantly kill you at the slightest provocation.