That's great and I agree with you about the power narrative being BS. However governments are all onboard with the green initiatives whether you like it or not. So a layer 1 with low energy requirements that can still manage to be decentralized and secure is a plus in my opinion. All things being equal it does not hurt to have a low carbon footprint.
It remains to be seen how secure POS is to POW when it comes down to it. Ethereum Classic is POW and yet it suffered numerous 51% attacks because of the low hash rate. Bitcoin is a lot more secure than these smaller blockchains. A 51% attack on Bitcoin is theoretically possible if a few large mining pools acted in unison. But it is extremely unlikely.
I believe you're talking about renewable energy which btc miners are at now 54%. Renewable are intermittent, they're not always on. The wind doesn't always blow, the sun doesn't always shine, the waves get lower . So you gave intermittent renewable energy which is what the world wants and is moving towards. In order to get renewable energies you need flexible load so you can power down as intermentency hits at certain times.
So the bitcoin mining industry is not only making the grid stronger but its subsidising the growth of renewable energy. They're the only companies right now to be subsidising it globally.
The problem I have with POS is it represents old financial legacy systems which are broken. Top validators are rewarded and can change the rules. POW/btc represents a parallel system which every one can participate on equal terms and not fear the rules been changed half way through due to legislation or an authoritarian regime.
In regards to a physical 51% attack, I believe you would need $8billion + in equipment just to facilitate such an attack and that much hardware being purchased would not go unnoticed. Especially now since there is a shortage. Basically a nation state would have to bank roll it. Imagine USA spending tax payer dollars to hijack a network in which 50million+ people hodl or have held btc. Almost certain death for that political party. I'm not saying it's impossible, but as the network grows and becomes more secure it's attack vector will be to costly and make little to no sense.
