[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... t-research

Named for a Dutch physicist, the Casimir effect governs interactions of matter with the energy that is present in a vacuum. Success in harnessing this force could someday help researchers develop low-friction ballistics and even levitating objects that defy gravity. For now, the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a two-year, $10-million project encouraging scientists to work on ways to manipulate this quirk of quantum electrodynamics.

[cipi604]

It's tricky ... the problem is that ZPE is evenly spread in the universe... so you don't have any difference of potential unless you break the equilibrium , so losing more energy than actually get in the first place. Entropy is a bitch.

If they make an apparatus that 'extracts' a small amount of ZPE (over-unity), we can call it perpetuum mobile for sure.

[WyoDutch]

Take it from me... It's very difficult to get one of these government handouts.
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There's a $25 million reward for Bin Laden. I contacted Homeland Security and asked for a lousy $2 million advance so I could put together a crackerjack "A-Team" and go after the big guy.
.
All I got was a lousy email.

[dissident]

The only device in existence that can tap ZPE is a black hole. Assuming that Hawking and his classical GR mated to QM is right and there is no observational evidence. Maybe when quantum-GR is finally developed we can say something about it.

The Casimir effect can be explained with QEM without the need to invoke the quantum foam:

article pdf

[evilgenius]

Zero point energy is an interesting concept. I'm not sure entropy is what you need to think about when describing what we would be up against in tapping it as much as the conservation of energy. The thing is if all you need is flow you really only need to figure out what kind of apparatus (physical, virtual, field oriented, whathaveyou) can order the energy states about within the limitations of conservation of energy and also relate somehow to the ZPF. That way you only have to 'borrow' from the Zero Point Field, you can give what you take back after you have used it to do what you need it to do, ie rearrange the existing energy outside of the field so that it is of benefit to us.

[billg]

If they make an apparatus that 'extracts' a small amount of ZPE (over-unity), we can call it perpetuum mobile for sure.

these apparatuses exist now.