Another fact checker fail

Sky News reports:

Entrepreneur Dick Smith has doubled down on his attack on the ABC, as he revealed his intentions to sue the national broadcaster over a flawed fact-check on nuclear power.

Mr Smith urged Australia “go nuclear now” in an interview with Sydney’s 2GB radio last week, claiming a country could not run “entirely on renewables”, however his statement was put under the microscope by RMIT ABC Fact Check.

The disgraced fact-checking unit claimed Mr Smith’s statement was incorrect, citing Nepal as a country where 100 per cent renewable output was possible – a glaring error as Nepal is highly reliant on the debilitating burning of bio-fuel.

The error is the latest in a string of high-profile gaffes from RMIT fact checkers with Mr Smith revealing on Sky News Australia he is set to seek legal action against the public broadcaster for “damaging my name”.

The businessman said he was set to do something he had never done before, after the ABC allegedly refused to correct its fact check. 

The so called fact checker conflated electricity with energy. This makes a huge difference. Yes 98% of electricity is from hydro but many places don’t even have electricity. If you take all energy into account, then hydro only accounts for 5% of Nepal’s energy, with biofuels making up 67%, oil 19% and coal 8%.