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The concept of the smart grid has been gaining more and more attention worldwide since it was proposed by the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute in 2001. Recently, it has been propelled again by the promotion of low carbon economies in developing countries. To satisfy the exponential increase in electricity demand and alleviate environmental degradation caused by fossil fuel-based power generation, China has made great efforts in constructing a smart grid as a substitution of traditional energyintensive power grid. In the 12th Five-Year Plan in particular, it was stated that emphasis should be placed on the development of renewable energy and smart grids. The objective of this paper is to provide an insight into the current research on smart grids, and shed light on the development of smart grids in China, based on the analysis of which, the obstacles and barriers in the development process are identified. Finally, policy prospects on the construction of smart grids in China are proposed from the aspects of technology, administration and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil plays an important role in global resource allocation. With the continuous development of the global supply chain, trade has brought a great impact on oil consumption. However, few studies have been focused on the oil consumption embodied in trade, that is, the oil footprints. Therefore, based on the multi-regional input-output model and structural decomposition model, this paper investigates the evolution and driving factors of the oil footprint between the two countries with the largest oil consumption in the world (China and the United States). By measuring the flow of oil footprint in bilateral trade, their trade transactions are analyzed at the national and industry levels. The results show that in Sino-US trade, China is a net exporter of virtual oil and the trade surplus is huge. The United States is the main destination of China's virtual oil consumption exports. In 2004, China's embodied oil net exports flowing into the US even exceeded its total net exports. Low value-added, high-consumption manufacturing is the main channel for China's virtual oil to flow to the United States, which reflects that China is still at the bottom of the value chain. The most important factor in promoting exports' growth is the scale effect of demand, followed by the input structure effect of intermediate products. The technical effect is an important force to curb the growth of oil footprints. This requires China and the United States to accelerate technological progress and reduce energy consumption intensity. At the same time, China should continue to optimize its trade structure, encourage the export of high-value-added products, and strive to climb the global value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on resource carrying capacity, this study used the revised theory of relative resource carrying capacity (RRCC) and introduced an innovative concept of relative fossil energy carrying capacity (RFECC), which evaluates the degree of fossil energy sustainability based on the relationship between economy, population, and environment. This study took China and the United States as the study objects, took the whole country as the reference area, and calculated the RFECC of population, economic, and environmental resources from 2000 to 2018. Therefore, based on the comparative analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: (i) there is a big difference in the RFECC between China and the United States, which is manifested in the inverted U-shaped trend in China and the U-shaped trend in the United States; (ii) the relative fossil energy carrying states in China and the United States are different, mainly reflected in the economy and environment; (iii) the gap in RFECC between China and the United States has gradually widened; in general, China's economic RFECC is better than that of the United States, while environmental RFECC and population RFECC in the United States is better than that of China; and (iv) coal and oil should be used as a breakthrough point for the sustainable fossil energy and sustainable development for China and the United States, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]