2. Are gas-fired power plants more polluting?

The question of the carbon footprint of gas-fired power plants is a subject of debate today. Indeed, the production of electricity via this type of power plant does indeed produce CO2, while its production via nuclear power plants does not generate any emissions.

To oppose power plant projects, collectives have already submitted appeals, which have often been refused. In the political world, the MR, through the voice of its president, Georges-Louis Bouchez, considers that it is a "climatic absurdity" to do without nuclear power to build power stations that will emit CO2. For ecologists, these plants represent only a step towards 100% renewable. Also, they defend, the gas used today, methane (a fossil fuel), can be replaced by hydrogen.

For the experts consulted, the question is more nuanced. "You have to know what you take into account when talking about clean energy. Nuclear fission does not produce CO2 while the combustion of natural gas generates emissions", explains Francesco Contino, civil engineer and professor at UCLouvain. "But when we think about nuclear power, we have to take into account the question of the management of nuclear waste. Ultimately, it's a question of societal choice."

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Pierre Henneaux, lecturer at the Ecole Polytechnique of the ULB, goes in the same direction. "An ideal solution does not exist. It is a political choice, since each option has its advantages and disadvantages."

Also, "when we ask ourselves the question of the total energy consumed, we must also know that electricity only accounts for 20% and that nuclear power produces about half of this electricity. We must also be able to think about this what we are doing concretely to defossilize the other sectors", pleads Francesco Contino.

As for the "greening" of the gas used, ecologists are betting on the possibility of using hydrogen instead of methane to achieve "zero carbon" gas power plants. The argument leaves Francesco Contino somewhat perplexed, particularly because hydrogen is more expensive and less available.