Carbon pricing is China’s best bet to cut emissions and by strengthening the proposed emissions trading scheme the country could see its GHG output peak sooner, according to a group of think-tanks.

Instituting a carbon tax and improving building efficiency are two of the most effective tools to cut greenhouse gases, no matter if its in China or the West, according to a report out tonight from China’s National Center for Climate Strategy and the Energy Research Institute (both government agencies) and the U.S. non-profit Energy Innovation.

Utilities face a host of rapid changes in a what used to be a staid business: new business models, changing supply and demand forecasts, new distributed architectures, etc. Meanwhile, difficult questions remain about how we’re going to manage our power transition, who the winners and losers will be, and what role consumers and “prosumers” will play in the future. We tackle all of these issues in this wide-ranging conversation about the “blocks and squiggles” of the grid of the future.

Most people are at least vaguely aware at this point that power utilities are the Bad Guys in the story of renewable energy — fighting rooftop solar, clinging to old coal plants, and generally slow-walking the work of cleaning up the grid. But the role of utilities is often badly misconstrued, read as a tale of greed or animus. While there’s plenty of greed and animus to go around, the fact is, utilities are just doing what they’ve been designed to do. The design is the problem.

Elon Musk announced last week that he wants Tesla, his electric-car company, to acquire SolarCity, the rooftop-solar company he helped found and now serves as chairman. Even assuming the merged company could get past its short-term challenges, its long-term fate rests on policy and regulatory decisions it can’t predict or determine. It’s a merger based on hope.

Tesla currently offers electric vehicles and energy storage solutions for homes, businesses and utilities. But while Tesla already has a close relationship with SolarCity, Musk made the case that there are efficiencies to be gained by formally combining the two entities. Setting aside market concerns for a moment, what would Musk’s vision actually look like?

China is rethinking its urbanization. In February, national authorities adopted new urbanization guidelines that should, over time, lead to more compact cities with denser networks of narrow streets, more pedestrian and cycling lanes, better public transport, mixed-use zoning, and more green space. Many neighborhoods within China’s major cities provide home-grown examples of urbanization done right.

The Department of Energy is usually a supporting player in international efforts to contain warming, but it steps into the spotlight later this month to host the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in California. The 24-country event in the San Francisco Bay Area marks the first time energy ministers will come together to swap clean power and efficiency ideas since last year’s landmark Paris climate deal.

Over the past decade, China has been undergoing the biggest adoption of alternative fuels for transportation, ever. This transition isn’t being led by green cars like the Tesla or the new lines of “eco” buses, but by e-bikes — electric bicycles.

As renewable energy becomes increasingly urgent, nuclear energy shouldn’t be discounted. In fact, it should be embraced according to Andy Karsner, managing partner at Emerson Collective and a senior strategist at Google’s moonshot lab.