Literature Review

On Saturday 20^th April 2010, a British petroleum oil rig in Gulf of Mexico exploded causing a huge oil spill that would last for 9 day until the well was capped, 11 people died and 17 people were injured, it is know known as the largest oil spill recorded in history to date,  which poses the Question


‘Does the need for oil outweigh the risks to the people and environment around these oil rigs, or should we be looking towards using renewable energy sources as the oil reserves are eventually to run out anyway?’

Joss Garmann(2010), reported for the Independent newspaper after the huge oil spill and pleaded with the new Conservative  government to ‘’use the Gulf of Mexico crisis as an opportunity to end our addiction to oil and lead moves towards a new business model that is centred on clean energy’’      

 

However how clean is clean energy? It is believed that if we are move away from oil/ coal powered power stations, then we would need to replace these power stations with nuclear ones, as wind turbines, solar energy and other renewable sources would never be able to create the power alone that the world needs. 


Nuclear power comes with its own risks and same potential, or if not more damaging to the environment around us, with its nuclear wastes, and the consequences if anything was to go wrong like the Chernobyl nuclear accident on April 26^th, 1986, which BBC news reports to be ‘the world's worst civil nuclear disaster’.


So should we continue to mine every last drop of oil out of the planet, or should risk relying on nuclear energy to be our new main power source?


References
The Independant, 2010, deep water oil drilling [online] Available at <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/deepwater-oil-drilling-banned-in-america-allowed-here-1996227.html> [accesses 07 November 2010]
BBC news, N/A, 1986: soviets admit nuclear accident [online] Available at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_2500000/2500975.stm> [accessed 07 November 2010]

VARK ANALYSIS

Reflection on the VARK analysis

Before completing the VARK questionnaire I always assumed that I was a very visual and hands on learner, as through school and college I was always more interested in graphs and diagrams rather that instructions and books, Hence my job choice.  

After completing the VARK questionnaire, it has proven to me that I am a visual learner; however I am bit surprised, as I am also suppose to be good  at learning through reading and writing. I believe this may be due to realising after starting my job as a maintenance technician that you can’t learn everything by just looking at it, and there is a need to research further in to something, if you want to learn how it works.

Unsurprisingly I am not very good at learning through aural methods. And I believe this has been the case all the way through my school and college life, this still happens today at work as I am no good when people tell me about something, as by the time I get to the job I would have already forgotten it as i didn’t pay enough attention when they where explaining. I think this may be partially due to my lack of self confidence, as I never like to ask questions at school or college as I believed it would make me look stupid in front of people that might already have known. Therefore, this maybe a skill that I need to work on in the future, so I can optimise on the way that I learn.

SWOT!!

Strengths

• Mechanically minded
• Learn quickly when hands on and visual
• Studied various engineering topics for over 5 years now
• Over 3 years of onsite experince at Perkins engines
• Have many qualifications including a NVQ3 in Engineering technical services
• Have the determination to progress my self within the company I work for.

Weaknesses

• Electrical knowledge
• I dont learn very well if it not visual or hands on
• I dont cope well under pressure
• Lack of self confidence
• I forget stuff easily if it is not used often.

Opportunities

• Looking to move in to an engineers position at work on completeion of this course
• Would like to do a course on electrical instalations to obtain 17th edition and improve my elctrcial knowlege

Threats

• Working normally 6 days a week leaves very little time spare for homework on this course
• Other people have far more experince than i do and wuld find it easier to step in to an engineers position.
• The company might not want to pay for me to do an electrical instalations course if i am to become an engineer.