free energy has existed for 100 years... we still pay for energy, so I wouldnt be so optimistic.
Have you heard about sonoluminescence?
If there is little or no profits, corporations are not interested. Simple, That is why earthly destruction is pretty advanced as we speak. I blog about it quite much.
There is no such thing as "free" energy. It all comes from somewhere. Even if we were to pull a Tesla and grab energy from the ionosphere, it would still not be free. It would have to be harvested, stored/transported etc...