Can “zero-point energy” power the world?

Throughout history, “free energy” has been a scammer’s game, such as perpetual motion. But with zero-point energy, is it actually possible?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are many ways to extract energy from the Universe: through mechanical work, via electrical signals, via chemical processes, from atomic or nuclear transitions, and many others.

• But even for physical systems in the lowest-energy configuration possible, the ground state, there’s still often a positive, non-zero amount of energy remaining: the zero-point energy.

• Is it possible that some (or even all) of that zero-point energy can be extracted, and could that be the ultimate solution to our energy needs? Science has something to say about that.