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The purpose of this paper is to construct historical perceptions of coal use in India and Japan in different historical time periods through the process of analyzing the narratives and discourses in academic, media and trade literatures.

In terms of methodology, this paper will utilize discourse theories/analysis and interpretive history to study the subject matter. In this paper, specific literatures on energy as well as general literatures on themes like technology are utilized.

The finding of the paper is that discourses and narratives about coal energy for example are constantly negotiated, constructed and then deconstructed again to fit and adapt to new realities, including the availability of newer technologies or priorities and concerns about the environment.

The research implication and originality of the paper is to demonstrate empirically the idea of the existence of narrative communities debating the use of coal energy in India and Japan. It highlights the communities of stakeholders interested in coal energy resource. The practical application and value of the ideas is the intellectual process of categorizing various contemporary narratives about coal energy use specific to two of the largest consumers and importers of coal in Asia. Through historical narratives of its past and recent coal use, the role and function of coal in the overall energy mix of India and Japan are instructive. The research limitation lies in its non‐quantitative nature and reliance on a combination of academic and trade secondary sources.

Indiana is listed among the top ten coal states in the USA and annually mines about 35 million short tons (million tons) of coal from the vast reserves of the US Midwest Illinois Coal Basin. The implementation and commercialization of clean coal technologies is important to the economy of the state and has a significant role in the state's energy plan for increasing the use of the state's natural resources. Coal is a substantial Indiana energy resource and also has stable and relatively low costs, compared with the increasing costs of other major fuels. This indigenous energy source enables the promotion of energy independence. The purpose of this paper is to outline the significance of clean coal projects for achieving this objective.

The paper outlines the clean coal initiatives being taken in Indiana and the research carried out at the Indiana Center for Coal Technology Research.

Clean coal power generation and coal for transportation fuels (coal‐to‐liquids – CTL) are two major topics being investigated in Indiana. Coking coal, data compilation of the bituminous coal qualities within the Indiana coal beds, reducing dependence on coal imports, and provision of an emissions free environment are important topics to state legislators.

Lessons learnt from these projects will be of value to other states and countries.

Sustainable development (SD) in developing countries is mentioned as one of the main aims of the Kyoto protocol's clean development mechanism. However, in the present context, uncertainty prevails to whether the (CDM) is actually procuring its aims in terms of achieving SD and to what extent. Chile, which has an open market economy, could risk becoming “locked” into a carbon intensive future, due to the recently discovered coal reserves and plans of large utilities to move to coal technology and not necessarily clean‐coal technology. The aim of this paper is to assist Chile in finding ways of encouraging technology transfer of energy technologies that would contribute to a low‐carbon sustainable energy development.

In order to be able to identify potential CDM projects facilitating SD in developing countries, through technology transfer from developed ones and, thus, to formulate a series of possible investment strategies with a SD component, it is crucial to establish a clear understanding of the host country's needs and priorities and the suitable energy technologies to meet these needs.

This paper presents results obtained from an elaborated stakeholders' assessment on Chile's high priority energy needs, sustainable energy technologies fulfilling these needs and opportunities and barriers related with the implementation of these technologies in the particular market.

The paper provides useful results that could facilitate Chile's designated national authority as well as future project investors to put on the map the most suitable sustainable energy technologies, based on the country's SD needs and priorities, to transfer and implement via CDM. The above is particularly important for Chile since recent coal discoveries could risk becoming “locked” into a carbon intensive future.

In China there are large amounts of coal located underneath buildings. In this article the severity of the problem is studied, and the characteristics of the mining technology used for the extraction of coals under buildings are described. Based on the comprehensive analyses of the abundant literature, separated bed grouting, backfill mining, Partial Mining and homonic mining technology, are the main mining technologies that exist for extraction of these coals. At the same time, the necessary measures for protecting the buildings are also considered. In particular, the authors have analysed the development of these mining technologies and concluded that the waste filling will be the focus of development, and that the main developing technologies of the filling mining method should be further perfecting the separated bed filling, strip mining and strenthening the anti-deformation of building.

The main goal of this work was the CFD analysis of air and oxy-coal combustion, in order to develop a validated with experimental measurements model of the combustion chamber. Moreover, the purpose of this paper is to provide information about limitations of the sub-models implemented in commercial CFD code ANSYS Fluent version 13.0 for the oxy-coal combustion simulations. The influence of implementation of the weighted sum of gray gas model (WSGGM) with coefficients updated to oxy-coal combustion environment has been investigated.

The sub-models validated with experimental measurements model for the air combustion has been used to predict the oxy-coal combustion case and subsequently the numerical solutions have been compared with the experimental data, which enclose the surface incident radiation (SIR) and the flue gas temperature. To improve the numerical prediction of the oxy-coal combustion process the own routine for calculating properties of the oxy-combustion product has been implemented.

The results of numerical simulation of combustion in the air environment fitted within the experimental measurements accuracy. However, the air combustion sub-models implemented for the oxy-coal combustion simulations does not predict the SIR within the experimental data accuracy. The implementation of own routine, which uses the coefficients calculated for oxy-coal combustion environment shows improvement in numerical prediction of oxy-coal combustion.

The radiative properties of gases in the combustion chamber during oxy-coal combustion calculated using the WSGGM implemented in ANSYS Fluent 13.0 do not predict the SIR within experimental measurement accuracy, however, implementation of WSGGM with updated coefficients provide a reasonable improvement in numerical prediction of SIR in the oxy-coal combustion.

During drilling in coal mines, sticking of drill rod (referred to as SDR in this work) is a potential threat to underground safety. However, no practical measures to deter SDR have been developed yet. The purpose of this study is to develop an anti-SDR strategy using proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and compliance control (PIDC). The proposed strategy is compatible with the drilling process currently used in underground coal mines using drill rigs. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the PIDC strategy for solving SDR.

A hydraulic circuit to reduce SDR was built based on a load-independent flow distribution system, a PID controller was designed to control the inlet hydraulic pressure of the rotation motor and a typical compliance control approach was adopted to control the feed force and displacement. Moreover, the weight and optimal combination of the alternative admittance control parameters for the feed cylinder were obtained by adopting the orthogonal experiment approach. Furthermore, a fuzzy admittance control approach was proposed to control the feed displacement. Experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The experimental results indicated that the PIDC strategy was appropriate and effective for controlling the rotation motor and feed cylinder; thus, the proposed method significantly reduces the SDR during drilling operations in underground coal mines.

As the PIDC strategy solves the SDR problem in underground coal mines, it greatly improves the safety of coal mine operation and decreases the power cost. Consequently, it brings the considerable benefits of coal mine production and vast application prospects in other corresponding fields. Actual drilling conditions are difficult to accurately simulate in a laboratory; thus, for future work, drilling experiments can be conducted in actual underground coal mines.

The PIDC-based anti-SDR strategy proposed in this study satisfactorily controls the rotation motor and feed cylinder and facilitates the feed and rotation movements. Furthermore, the tangible novelty of this study results is that it improves the frequency response of the entire drilling system. The drilling process with PIDC decreased the occurrence of SDR by 50%; therefore, the anti-SDR strategy can significantly improve the safety and efficiency of underground coal mining.

New technologies of coal production have improved machine reliability but increased technical complexity. More man shifts are now devoted to maintenance than to coalface production, so maintainability is crucial. The reorganisation of craft work, to increase labour flexibility and reduce workers′ autonomy, reveals a fundamental conflict between the production objectives of the new systems and human factors. The full productive potential of computerised systems is not being realised because of random breakdowns. The new technology has been designed to circumvent the skills and knowledge of the workforce, but its success depends on harnessing these skills. A system designed to enhance maintenance workers′ skills would avoid these contradictions, raise productivity and improve the working environment.

The subject coverage of the Coal Data Base is very large and represents an amalgam of the interests of the member countries who supply input. The basic coverage is as listed in the contents page of Coal Abstracts:

The paper aims to observe a continuous process industry, the cement manufacturing industry with the aim of identifying greening opportunities in its production operations. The study analyses areas pertaining to the cement industry that impact the environment with specific focus on the industry within a developing, lower income country.

A cleaner production (CP) approach was used in a case study approach, focussing on issues such as gaseous emissions and particulate emissions. Both capital intensive and less intensive options are proposed. Source reduction and pollution prevention operations that were used in this study include chemical substitution, technology modification and on-site reuse/recovery/recycling opportunities.

The paper provides insights about how change is brought about within a continuous process industry. It suggests that successful leaders act as “integrating forces” on two levels: integrating the elements of corporate identity structures and mediating between the corporate branding structures and the individual. Capital interventions included redesigning the clinker conveyor, as well as restructuring the dust transportation system. There is a need for the developing countries to track and identify modern interventions that are available within industry and adopt them.

The paper focusses on a single cement factory in a low income country, as the case study approach was used. As such, findings and options generated may not be generalized, as the processes from one industry to another tend to differ in different economies.

The paper includes implications for the development of greening manufacturing practices in the cement industry.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how greening practices can be enabled and enhanced in a continuous manufacturing industry. The work informs greening practices at any level, with a focus of production experiences in the cement industry in a lower technology, developing economy that is less industrialized.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and assess the consecutive Governments' policy for coal (1989‐2006) in the context of the systemic transformation of the Polish economy.

The paper presents a critical analysis of the rationale and effectiveness of government efforts to restructure the Polish coal mining industry in the light of economic theory, published literature, and a survey of three collieries. Some parallels, toutes proportions gardées, are drawn between the situation in the UK under Margaret Thatcher and that in Poland.

The paper argues that, despite throwing billions of zlotys at the industry in the form of direct subsidies and debt write‐offs, decision makers failed to make the collieries economically sound. The weaknesses of the consecutive governments – manifesting itself, amongst other things, in the unwillingness and/or inability to confront the miners' unions, to introduce market mechanisms into the sector, to ensure competent management and, crucially, to press on with nationwide economic liberalisation – are seen as the principal reasons behind the failure.

The paper highlights the root causes of government ineffectiveness as well as aspires to provide policy recommendations with a view to rendering the Polish coal industry economically viable in a free‐market reality.

It presents the coal mining industry as a relic of socialism and highlights the inconsistencies and inadequacies of the consecutive restructuring programmes; concludes that restructuring efforts – to be truly effective – have to be co‐ordinated with nationwide economic liberalisation.