The work done is a feature not a bug. The fact that a miner has to locate their equipment by a hydroelectric power plant is what makes the network so secure. That just shows that work is difficult to fake.

All these efforts to limit bitcoin’s energy expenditure seem environmentally motivated, which is good. But the arguments seem equivalent to praising a safe’s security but criticizing how hard it is to open. Those features are linked.

Yes proof of stake or some other algorithm may take over eventually but we don’t know if they are as secure yet. Proof of work is the good idea that made the whole bubble possible and it remains to be seen if any of the other ideas can beat it.