[VadeRetro]

If the zero-point energy is real, there is the possibility that it can be tapped as a source of power or be harnassed to generate a propulsive force for space travel.

Actually, even if it's real, it's everywhere and exactly the same everywhere. It's entropic energy. It's useless unless somebody repeals the Second Law of Thermo.

[PatrickHenry]

unless somebody repeals the Second Law of Thermo.

Write your congressman.

[sourcery]

It's useless unless somebody repeals the Second Law of Thermo.

That would be my first impression. But I am humble, and am always willing to consider the possibility that I am wrong.

[donh]

Actually, even if it's real, it's everywhere and exactly the same everywhere. It's entropic energy. It's useless unless somebody repeals the Second Law of Thermo.

Half a mo' there. Didn't Hawking propose that Black Holes were detectable because the boundary quantum uncertainty at a critical distance around a black hole would produce a net detectable outflow of photons? A black hole detector seems like it might be a keen working device to me. Or is the critical region around a black hole entropy-irrelevant?