Optimizing for a metric that benefits all of humanity is not stunting technological improvements. It’s improving in a direction that makes human-sense instead of some other kind of sense.

Also, renewable energy doesn’t mean infinite/limitless energy. It often means there are more limitations than non-renewable counterparts. Eg: storing energy is still not a solved problem without really toxic (environmentally and politically) materials.

Yeah, it seems to me (not an expert!) that energy will cost less and less over time, both in terms of how much you pay and how much CO2 is produced, thus CO2 production won't have much relation to image compression.

"Technological advancements" is a term that is open to interpretation. To many, it means advancements in terms of reducing CO2 emissions.

Renewable energies require gaz and coal backups.