Maybe we can focus on crypto that doesn't have such high electricity demands for that purpose.
BTC is "clean" money in that it doesn't have the blood of millions and an imperialistic army powering it.
The energy usage by BTC is a drop in the bucket compared to the ecological damage wreaked by the US military.
Most evidence shows the U.S. no longer benefits from the dollar as a global reserve currency. And lots of governments have currency boards or currencies they don’t control.
1. The currency board countries are very small players, mostly beaten to blue and also not all currency boards are tied to USD.
2. The bulk (I guess 90%+) of global lending is still in USD - a currency which the Fed can debase at will - as has been happening since 2008 and happened at a grande scale in 2020.
This brings only frustration and bitterness - the last two things you want in international relations, especially in the post-nuclear age soft-power days.
P.S. I think that the US was playing this role very well over the past 76 years and am perfectly happy with 90% of what has been done.
> Is there any reason a cryptocurrency can’t be made that uses very little energy?
As far as proof-of-work is concerned, if you don't use enough energy, you are vulnerable to 51% attacks.
As far as other schemes (e.g. proof-of-stake) are concerned - none of them have the same desirable security properties as PoW.