“Nuclear power plants the cleanest of all energy sources. Not only do they leave behind a significantly smaller carbon footprint than coal or steam power plants, but their CO₂ emissions are lower than solar or wind farms.” This is the conclusion of a study by Ricardo Energy & Environment.
Is this credible or not? And how to assess it? Most people proceed by judging an article by whether they agree with it. I’m a Green Deal opponent, so I tend to believe those results immediately. Someone from the opposite camp will again tend to label them as manipulated. From a rational thinking perspective, both positions are equally wrong.
In the end, the only thing left to do is to read the study carefully, check the reasoning of the authors, recalculate the tables if necessary…
Someone else may base their opinion on who sponsored the study. That looks better on the face of it, but it doesn’t give certainty either. That someone funded the study is not proof that the numbers are true or false. A look at previous work by the same team would give a slightly greater degree of certainty. Have they repeatedly committed fraud, or has everything they’ve published so far been flawless? But even that is not entirely satisfactory. In the end, the only thing left to do is to read the study carefully, check the reasoning of the authors, recalculate the tables if necessary, and check what sources they drew on. Yes, it will take a lot of work. But the truth is not for the lazy.
It’s also a pretty good solution to simply state, “There are different opinions on this, but I can’t argue about it because I haven’t had time to research it in detail.”
