Environmental Loading of Resource and Heat Recovery

Abstract

Every ecology textbook tells us that global material flows and cycles form a closed loop. The starting point is solar energy uptake through photosynthesis by plants. This is the original driving force for material flows along this loop. Carbon dioxide is converted into biomass in this step. Creatures, including insects, birds, and animals eat the plants and discharge carbon dioxide. Decomposers such as bacteria and fungi degrade the excreta and dead cells of plants and animals into carbon dioxide and nutrients, and the cycle begins anew.