Comparative Study on Relative Fossil Energy Carrying Capacity in China and the United States

Zhili Zuo, Jinhua Cheng, Haixiang Guo and Yonglin Li
Additional contact information
Zhili Zuo: School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Jinhua Cheng: School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Haixiang Guo: School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Yonglin Li: School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: relative fossil energy carrying capacity (RFECC); China; the United States; comparative analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/10/2972/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/10/2972/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:10:p:2972-:d:558870

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().