I wish to make something clear that I did not in the article. I understand that without Proof of Work there is no Bitcoin. Consensus cannot be reached without it. But it is proof of useless work. One simply finds a hash that is less than a given value and this becomes harder to do over time. It is not useful work like modeling protein folding or even calculating prime numbers. Short story: I get the need for it but it is useless work for anything but consensus.

But I do think that this service that miners provide comes at too high a cost. Perhaps there is a way to get the same service at a lower cost through an algorithm that has not yet been devised.

I just don't think I can get behind any argument that says 46kWh is an acceptable electricity cost per transaction. It offends me from a sheer efficiency point of view that every time I make a transaction it's the same as turning on my dryer for 15 hours.