Life Cycle Analysis of the Coalbed Methane Industry Based on Technology Paradigm and Data Analysis System Method

¹ Business School, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, People’s Republic of China
² Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, People’s Republic of China
³ Business School, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne VIC3010, Australia

^* e-mail: fanlurong@scu.edu.cn

Abstract

With the sharply increasing natural gas demand, coalbed methane (CBM), one of the main unconventional gas, significantly impacts the international energy supply. Driven by the global energy market demand, related technologies have been developed. However, previous studies of the CBM industry mostly focused on the description of a single technical field, lacking integrity and versatility, and unable to systematically describe the development of the technology track of the CBM industry. To summarize the life cycle of the technology development of the CBM industry, this paper proposes a new optimization methodology that combines the technology paradigm theory and data analysis system (DAS). Through data visualization, three technical paradigms are proposed; Competition, diffusion and transfer. Based on the visualization results, this paper discusses the challenges existing in the current CBM industry. It proposes corresponding policy recommendations so that the government can formulate appropriate and accurate subsidy incentive policies.