Why Does kernel_task use 80 % cpu?

Hi,
Ive been having a problem with my 2ghz macbook running slowly. The first thing i did when i noticed the slowdown was to open Activity Monitor to find out what process was causing the slowdown. kernel_task was running at 84% of the cpu and had 54 threads running. I restarted the computer and PID 0 kernal_task was still running between 70 and 90% cpu.
Things i tried to fix the problem
1 uninstall all programs and games
2 remove everything connected to the computer
3 boot to os disk and repair permissions ( on boot volume and disk itself )
4 reinstall os and download updates
5 reinstall os and don't download updates
6 reinstall os and choose "erase and install" option
7 boot to os disk and use disk utility to erase disk then reinstall os
8 boot to os disk and use diskutil from terminal to repartition and reformat, then reinstall os
9 reset NVRAM/ PRAM
after this i took it to the apple store. they put a new hard drive in it (probably cause i wore out the old one reformatting it) and the problem still exists.
most of the forums say that the problem is either overheating, or a kernel extension misbehaving. both of these explanations could be the problem.
Overheating-
many macbook air users report high kernel_task cpu usage related to high cpu temps, broken fans and broken logic-boards. this is further supported buy how the problem goes away when the ambient temperature is below 60 but comes back at room temp. could this be a hardware ploblem like a bad fan, bad temp sensor or heatsink that got popped off?
CoolBook
coolbook should help solve the temp problem buy lowering the voltage to the cpu, but that sounds uber dangerous to me. plus it adds its own kext's and im trying to fix the kernel not add a bunch of 3rd party junk to it. has anybody had any luck with coolbook?
Bad kext (kernel extension)
when i boot to safe mode kernel_task behaves normaly so could the problem be a bad kext? safeboot only loads the required kernel extensions so could one of the other kexts not loaded in safe boot be the problem?
1 first question: kernel_task is a process scheduler and memory manager so is messing around with kernel extensions going to have any affect?
2 some people found that replacing the trackpad kext with an earlier version got the kernel_task to settle down has this worked for anyone?
3 i booted regularly and in safe mode and used kextfind -loaded to find out what kexts were running normally that didnt run in safe boot. I then booted to safe mode again and used kextload to load back each kext one buy one. they all loaded and kernel_task stayed the same. there was one exception GeForce.kext caused a panic and wouldnt load. is geforce.kext the problem or am i on the wrong track?
4 the way i understand it kextd is a daemon (whatever that means) that loads kernel extensions. the man pages say that the "-x" switch will make it only load the safe boot kernel extensions but kextd doesnt work from the command line because its started buy launchd (right?) is there a way to get kextd to start with the "-x" switch every time the computer boots normally?
Im a total computer noob and i welcome and any correction and advice at any level. please help me! i want to solve this whole kernel_task for everyone once and for all!
Message was edited by: Duezle
Message was edited by: Duezle

Have you counted the number of processes in AM? They are all running from time to time whether you use the computer or it sits for an hour. Not including applications you have loaded there may be upwards of 80-90 system processes running. Applications you aren't using are still partially in memory and partially being paged out to disk.
All this activity will in part use the kernel. My kernel_task process is running 1.5 GBs just now.

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Why Does kernel_task use 80 % cpu?

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