Conspiracy against the Geothermal Energy by the Oil Companies

I was recently contacted by the president of an European Geothermal Energy Physical Association, asking me to create public conscience about his field. He believes that for some occult reason the governments do not pay enough attention to cheap enery sources such as geothermal.

After some web research, I tend to agree with him. Nobody states any strong argument against geothermal energy. It is renewable, clean, abundant and available. And it can completely destroy the oil energy business.

The cost of building a geothermal plant depends on how deep the heat source is located. In places like Island, Hawai or any volcanic area, there is no problem and the heat from the lava could be fully exploited for energy generation. There is no limiting size for such an explotation, and the excess energy could be used to generate hydrogen. Liquid hydrogen is a high-energy fuel that can be shipped anywhere, and burnt for energy without contamination. The sale of energy could easily cover the initial costs of geothermal plants in a very short period.

There are a few reasons against geothermal energy: the possibility of earthquake (remote), release of contaminant substances (remote and only at the initial time of perforation), exhausting the local heat. This last event might limit the energy produced by a well, but should not prevent it. It can be solved with a deeper weel, or multiple paralel wells.

There are no serious objections to a wider use of geothermal energy, against the interests of the oil companies. If they saw this reality, they should have bought shares of the geothermal companies, expecting to shift their focus in the near future, when the conditions for their benefit are optimal. This can be easily be investigated by financial journalists.

The oil companies are in excellent position to take advantage of the geothermal energy. They have the drilling technology and the old wells that did not find oil. Those wells could be easily reconverted to geothermal energy production, specially when they reach hight temperatures in the bottom. However, they make more money with oil, no matter how bad for the environment it is.

If I could bet, I would buy a few shares of the geothermal companies.