Civilisation is to a large extent constrained by available energy, which is why new energy sources have lead to industrial revolutions. As long as you're not spending other resources on it excessively any massive amount of energy surplus can be put to good, previously uneconomical and fantastical-seeming uses.

Given enough energy you could regulate the entire biosphere by brute force.

And if you ever want to get serious about colonizing space a stupendous amount of energy has to be spent just lifting people and materials into orbit.