As I recall, there are two problems with extracting vacuum energy. =
One is that removing energy would put the system below the =
Heisenberg limit. You can cool things down below that, but only by =
putting the energy uncertainty into something else.
The thing with the Casimir effect (negative energy and all that) is =
that you need a charge to mass ratio significantly higher than that =
of the electron. Since we usually create net charge with =
electrons, this would prove rather difficult. Even if there were =
low mass partons inside of quarks, you'd still have to carry the =
extra (electrically neutral) gluon mass around to get to macroscopic =
size.
Nice try, though. :-)
Dr. Ernie