ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces one of the three major themes of this book: environmental systems, emphasizing global cycles, particularly carbon, and ecosystems. This will provide a motivation of understanding carbon-based power generation. We first explain ecosystems concepts, particularly energy flow, and relate these to the global carbon cycle. Then, from the entire carbon cycle, we focus on the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide and its change during the last decades and its relation to global temperature. We demonstrate that these increases are faster than the ones predicted by a simple exponential model. In order to strengthen the reader’s background on environmental systems, we provide a brief review of geologic history and of fuels found in sedimentary rocks.
