Those were two separate points, so I don't believe I'm moving any goal posts. You are right, believing it is too much energy usage and believing it is bad energy usage are unrelated things.
You are also probably correct that proof of work is unlikely to stop at this point without either massive government intervention or a bubble pop massive enough to entirely dry out bitcoin investors.
Where we seem to disagree is that I think because it is both too much energy usage and frighteningly bad energy usage, at this point I'm in optimistic moments hoping for massive government intervention and cynically hoping for the massive bubble pop. I take no solace whatsoever in how much of that energy wastage is "renewable".
I think we can find much better uses for renewable energy than proof of work. Even if it is just putting that energy to work in giant gravity batteries and whatnot.
Speaking of moving the goal posts: flare gas sites are the exact opposite of renewable energy and I'm very confused why you'd even bring them up if you were trying to make a point that proof of work uses more renewable sources than not.
