Zero-point energy

Zero-point energy (ZPE) is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. The quantum foam is made up of fluctuating fields comprised of matter fields, whose quanta are fermions, and gravitational and force fields, whose quanta are bosons, and this foam has ZPE.

A vacuum is space without matter but it has ZPE fluctuations called the quantum foam and this provides a vacuum with vacuum energy, a special case of zero-point energy.

Zero-point radiation of a vacuum is many orders of magnitude greater than nuclear fission energy, with a single light bulb containing enough energy to boil all the world's oceans.

The relationship between electromagnetic energy, ZPE and dark energy is only understood by Type I civilizations.

Type II civilizations can use ZPE to build Dark Energy reactors, which together with Dark Energy makes their output many orders of magnitude greater than nuclear fusion energy.

Examples:


 * In Stargate the Zero Point Module (ZPM) is a power source that extracts vacuum energy from the multiverse.
 * In Half-Life the Gravity Guns (Zero Point Energy Field Manipulators) and Dark Energy reactors use Dark Energy and ZPE.