Two black holes can merge to create a bigger black hole, thus increasing the entropy of the universe. Alternatively, they can be used as two heat reservoirs from which work can be extracted. We discuss a process during which two black holes are transformed into one while the total entropy is kept as constant. The resulting black hole has a smaller mass than the total mass of the input black holes and the mass difference is converted into work. Although the process will probably not be used within the next 1011 yr for energy production, we can speculate that it might be an energy source for those who might inhabit our universe after that. We discuss the basic thermodynamics of the proposed system.
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2012
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