News on Front Page

July 12
2022
Source: Social Science Research Network

Schernikau & Smith: a surface-mined coal is “better for the climate” than the average naturally gas

Dr. Lars Schernikau, energy economist, entrepreneur, and commodity trader explains in a short 18min video a new peer-reviewed research paper authored by him and Prof William H. Smith of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis about the ” ‘Climate Impacts’ of Fossil Fuels in Today’s Energy Systems”.

Lars and Bill Smith analyzed new information published over the past year by the IPCC and IEA on methane and carbon dioxide. Some of the analysis confirms what we knew before, i.e. that about half of CO2 that is emitted to the atmosphere actually doesn’t end up airborne and thus cannot contribute to global warming… it is taken up by nature and contributes to greening of the Earth (also confirmed by NASA). All sources are well documented in the paper including links.

Other analysis results are rather surprising, which even the authors didn’t expect. For this, however, “IPCC’s Global Warming Potential GWP” needs to be accepted (see Lars’ YouTube video for a short introduction). A short summary of the main points from the paper:

Energy policy needs to take the entire life-cycle environmental impact of emissions and non-emission of energy systems into account. Focusing only on combustion leads to economically and environmentally undesired effects.

  • life-cycle includes production, processing, transportation, operations, and recycling
  • non-emissions environmental impacts include energy input, material requirement, space requirements, animal/plant life, health/safety, and more.

All energy systems need to be analyzed for this full life-cycle effect on the environment, including conventional and “renewables”, to decide on priorities and compare those to the economic impact of switching from one to the other.

Applying this logic to the coal and gas value chains and including only reported methane (CH4) and CO2 emissions, it turns out that surface-mined coal is “better for the climate” than the average naturally gas, especially LNG.

Please keep in mind the authors have nothing against LNG or natural gas, quite the contrary… they are amazing energy resources we and we need them urgently… these are only logical conclusions from IPCC and IEA data.

The point is not to favor coal over gas or the other way around, but to analyze what IPCC and IEA reported numbers would mean. With a large portion of green-house gas warming stemming from methane (much of it natural and from agriculture), we may start to see the world differently.

These are quite eye-opening analysis outcomes that would result in significant energy policy adjustments especially after COP26’s anti-coal agenda. Logically, based on this information, CO2 taxation and most decarbonization efforts (see ESG metrics in large conglomerates or banks) are not having the modeled envrironmental advantages and lead to unwanted market distortions.

The academic peer-reviewed research paper is available online at SSRN’s electronic journal, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3968359

November 6
2018
Source: Harlan County Chamber of Commerce

JRL Coal, Inc. Named Business of the Year

Harlan County Chamber of Commerce Milton
JRL Coal, Inc. Named Business of the Year by the Harlan County Chamber of Commerce Milton, Georgia and Harlan County, Kentucky – JRL Coal, Inc. (“JRL Coal” or the “Company”), a subsidiary of JRL Energy, Inc., (collectively, “JRL”), is pleased to announce that it was named Business of the Year at the Harlan County Chamber of Commerce’s (the “Chamber”) Annual Gala on October 18, 2018.

The Chamber received over 300 nominations for its annual award ceremony and awarded JRL Coal its highest honor, Business of the Year. This award recognizes a business that has contributed and promoted economic growth, stability and improvement in the Harlan County community.

As we started this venture, we wanted to develop a company that would be successful, but also seen as a pillar in the community. This award represents the strong partnership we have made with the Harlan community
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Lusby.

JRL began mining in Harlan County in May 2017. As of today, JRL has added over 220 new jobs to the community and has shipped over 1.1 million clean tons of coal from its facilities in Harlan County.

What we have been able to achieve would not be possible without the stellar work ethic of the team we have assembled in Harlan. Our team is one of our strongest assets as a Company, and I am proud to be a part of such a great organization
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Lusby.