[jariel]

"Bitcoin mining is a great way to monetize energy that has a low market value and would likely go to waste."

Mining BTC is literally a waste.

There is no value creation at all.

Though some individuals may value it - it's not actually useful. The world economy does not grow one bit due to BTC or BTC mining - lives are not improved, products are not developed or made, or enabled etc..

Even if BTC were a very useful currency, it would still be wasteful to use considerable electricity to support it, because it's not necessary - it just happens to be the mechanism chosen to mine new coins.