We wanted to look at a few examples here. As you can see, energy does not cycle the way nutrients and atoms do. It enters the ecosystem from the Sun and exits after everyone has taken as much as they need. When organisms are done with the energy, they release it back into the biosphere as heat. This image shows water cycling through an ecosystem, but look how large it is.
Water is recycled on a global scale, actually cycling through the biosphere.
It may move from one ecosystem to another on its way from the air to the land and back to the oceans. Whether that Carbon is in the form of a sugar or Carbon dioxide gas, we all need it. Unlike energy, Carbon is continuously cycled and reused. It is the ultimate form of recycling. All creatures need it to survive.