Is It Possible to Harvest Energy from Black Holes?

One of the largest known methods of obtaining energy right now is nuclear energy. But what if we go deep into space? Can we use the energy of stars, or even black holes?

Scientists have long been working on whether energy can be extracted from black holes. A possibility called ‘Penrose processes’, which uses the ergosphere region of a black hole, has shown that this might be possible. The ergosphere is the area just above the event horizon of a rotating black hole, where space-time itself is dragged along with this tremendous rotation.

The physics of the ergosphere shows that if a mass approaching the event horizon splits in two, with one part falling into the black hole, the other part can exit the ergosphere with more energy than it initially had. The black hole increases its energy by transferring some of its angular momentum to this mass.

Recently, there’s also been discussion about the possibility of obtaining energy from the process by breaking and reconnecting magnetic field lines in the ergosphere. This would naturally cause matter to split into two plasma flows, with one falling into the black hole while the other provides an energy flow.

The Penrose process can also transfer energy to the virtual particle pairs that create Hawking radiation. These particle-antiparticle pairs are constantly being created and destroyed due to quantum fluctuations in the fabric of space-time.

Another possibility, called the “Blandford-Znajek process”, suggests that the rotational energy of a spinning black hole could be transferred using an external magnetic field. The black hole acts like a conductor rotating in a magnetic field. Magnetic field lines are dragged around the black hole, causing plasma jets to be ejected in opposite directions. This is believed to be the process that creates the energetic plasma jets seen in quasars, and it’s thought that these could be harnessed with an external magnetic field.

Although the engineering skill required for any of these possibilities is far beyond our current capabilities, physics suggests that energy production from black holes could achieve 150% more efficiency than any energy production method currently used on Earth.