The Benefits Of The Carbon Cycle

Introduction:

Life is made possible by carbon. The carbon cycle is an essential mechanism of the Earth. About 18% of a human body is made up of carbon atoms (Robert Bear, 2016). The carbon cycle can be broken into two sub cycles: the first cycle deals with the expeditious carbon exchange among living organisms, and the second cycle dealing with the long-term cycling of carbon through geologic processes. Organisms produce CO2 ____ Carbon exists mainly in the air as CO2 gas, which can dissolve and mix in the water molecules in the air to produce bicarbonate. Organisms may also carry out photosynthesis which sequesters carbon dioxide or bicarbonate into organic molecules. These organic molecules are then passed through the food chain and cellular

Most of the world energy is currently met by the utilisation of fossil fuels, which leads to deteriorating environmental problems such as excessive atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. In Ireland, most electricity is now generated by burning fossil fuels such as peat. Coal and natural gas. Natural has is currently the largest contributor at 45% (Dineen, et al., 2016). Coal is next at 14% and peat at 9%. One way of improving thus would be further implement renewable methods of producing electricity. Wind, solar and geothermal energy are methods which could be implemented. Geothermal energy has may advantages over wind or solar energy as a renewable source because the earths heat remains essentially constant. Therefore, geothermal is reliable and inexhaustible. It is not affected by the climate or weather like wind and solar energy. It is also more cost-effective as the heat pumps can be operated at a relatively low cost. The water and steam used in the geothermal system are put back into the earth so there is no waste. Geothermal plants would be environmentally friendly as they do not burn fuel to generate electricity. They release little or no carbon dioxide and other harmful compounds (Craddock, 2008). It has been predicted that by 2070, 60% of all the world's energy will come from renewable energy sources (Craddock, 2008). This would greatly reduce the burning

In developed countries CO2 emissions are reducing slightly but are still grossly high (Carmelo J. Leon, 2014). The link between CO2 emissions and economic growth are clear. The use of nuclear energy can also be linked with CO2 emissions. As countries develop they tend to further develop they ways of producing energy. Nuclear energy itself produces no CO2 emissions. A study on the G7 countries found that an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country and an increase in CO2 emissions had a direct correlation with an increase in renewable energy consumption. Oil price increases has a negative impact although smaller impact on renewable energy consumption. Yoo and Ku (2009) produced a report based on the relationship between economic growth and the use of nuclear energy. They investigated six countries among twenty countries that used nuclear energy as a source of energy for more than twenty years until 2005. The foremost conclusion of this study is that the connection between economic growth and nuclear energy consumption is not consistent across countries. For example, in Switzerland an increase in nuclear energy consumption directly affects economic growth, while changes in economic growth further encourages nuclear energy consumption, thus reducing the amount of CO2 emissions. This suggests that nuclear energy consumption plays a role in reducing CO2 emissions whereas renewable energy