Actually Zero Point Energy (free energy) is a concept going around the physics circles (including some quite famous Nobel laureates) for some time. And while I don't know ZPES, I know of few places where they are spending money to get after that. Once they do, if they do, who'll need oil except for plastics and other petrochemical compounds. The end result will be a new ice age, because we will no longer dump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a process that is preventing a new Ice age from dawning on us... How do you like that as a "doomsday" scenario?