Thousands of oil rigs are idle because the price of energy is way down due to increased production. If geothermal wasn’t competitive with 100 dollar a barrel oil, how big are the subsidies going to have to be at 50?
Precisely. A good well will flow 100 barrels a day... Times 50... Times 365...
Besides ... the weather has been more than cold ... stuff freezes and weird things happen in sub zero temperature
Thousands of oil rigs are idle because the price of energy is way down due to increased production. If geothermal wasn’t competitive with 100 dollar a barrel oil, how big are the subsidies going to have to be at 50?
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oil and electricity don’t compete directly against each other...at least not now. The point of these hydrothermal wells would be to make electricity. There’s a couple of them already in operation. Mostly in Nevada and California —in just the sweetest spots for hydrothermal == as you can see from the map above.
Your post is the essence of the posts on this thread, A post to the top it is.
I spent 17 years on the drilling rigs looking for gas and oil and we found a bunch. I assure you that the guys at the top of Exxon, Shell, BP, Aramco etc. do not give a damn where the oil, gas or geothermal energy comes from. They will tap each and every one of them if they can make a profit.
Personally I do like geothermal energy as it is unlimited. I also recognize it is not competitive with gas and oil with the rare exceptions like Iceland which sits on top of a rift zone which means red hot rocks.