Science - Admission/Application Essay Example

loring solar energy as a best alternative source of energy along with some of its drawbacks and possible improvements that can be made in exploiting it. The paper would also briefly mention about two other sources of energy: nuclear and geothermal. Nuclear power plants contribute around 14% of global electricity requirements; however, its share is likely to decline to around 10 percent in next 15 years (Ferguson & Settle, 10). It is estimated that the US generates around 25 percent of world nuclear power through its 104 reactors.

A spent fuel issue is the main deterrent in using nuclear energy. About 57,700 metric tons of spent fuel generated by the US alone has been stored at 121 sites spread across 39 states (Ferguson & Settle, 25). Nuclear energy poses certain hazards; the largest of them is waste disposal issue. Ever since the Fukushima catastrophe in Japan in March 2011, scientists and experts have been skeptical about harnessing this source of energy; it is now not a preferred source of energy in most of the countries including the US (Ferguson & Settle, 11).

The heat of the earth is called geothermal energy. It is renewable and does not create any pollution. The heat of the earths core keeps on coming towards surface that eventually heats up the water underground forming a geothermal reservoir. Geothermal energy, thus, appears as hot springs on the surface. Gupta and Roy state that over 20 countries now produce electricity from geothermal resources and around 60 countries, in one way or another, make use of this energy. The US has 2687 MW of installed capacity of geothermal energy followed by Philippines at 1970 MW.

Geological conditions, economy and technology are the main drivers in harnessing geothermal energy (Gupta and Roy). Among many alternative sources of energy available, solar is one of the most potential sources of energy. Most part of the Earth receives huge amount of solar radiation that can be harnessed through various techniques. Science