What will replace oil wells-?

“there is only one other source of energy that can replace oil and that is geothermal. That is why I have presented this energy machine. There is no other way.”

I think your problem is that you are looking for a single source replacement for oil. I do not believe that exists. The solution will be multifaceted. Many different sources adding up to produce the final result. While there Solar cannot keep a factory running 24 hours a day, solar energy produced and used during the day can offset oil use or save water for hydro, so that energy can be used to keep that factory running during the hours of darkness.

The biggest problem with geothermal is that much of that resource is too deep in the earth to do us any good. It can be either prohibitively expensive to reach, or in many cases it is just impossible with today’s drilling technology.

Production of geothermal steam has many problems associated with it. It leaches minerals from the earth, including many sulfides, arsenic, and other toxics, which need to be removed. Especially, if steam/water vapor from a cooling tower is going to be released to atmosphere.  This will be even more important if you ramp up the amount of geothermal production.

It takes vast quantities of water, and it is preferable that it is not saltwater. Maintaining a turbine that uses geothermal steam is labor intensive enough, without increasing the salt content of the steam. The existing corrosion problems associated with geothermal steam would be much worse using heated salt water.

To keep the Geysers resource running, they have been catching rainwater runoff and reinjecting it since the late 70’s. They pump the local streams when they reach a certain flow level. They are pumping treated sewer water from up to 40 miles away (and uphill over 3,000 feet) to maximize steam regeneration. (And they do not subtract the vast quantities of electricity used for pumping, from their net production figures. That power use shows up as a customer)

One of the world’s best geothermal resources is Yellowstone National Park.  Would you care to lay a wager on the odds of building power plants there ?

People that have not been around it, often view Geothermal as a green resource.  But there are just as many ecological impacts to be mitigated (and you could argue more) as a fossil fuel power plant.

Thomas:

I never said that geothermal is a no go. All I said was your idea of it won’t work. While most of the technical problems might be overcome, it is not worthwhile to pursue them. The cost of such a project would be prohibitive. It would drive up electric rates to a level never seen in this country. We just are recovering from $5.00 a gallon gas, I do not want to see $5.00 a kilowatt electricity.

While there are thousands of kilometers of mid ocean ridge, most of it is not that hot.  So, you will either have to drill for the heat.  Or, you are going to have to cap off a bunch of hydrothermal vents.
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/deepsea/level-2/geology/vents.html
Capping off those will destroy a very fascinating ecosystem.

“you too will start thinking about geothermal as well.”

I don’t need to start thinking geothermal. I am one of the few people you will ever run into that can say that I (along with many others) have built geothermal power plants. Over 400MW worth. So, I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on what we have been able to do with it, and what we can’t.

Ken