I always find it weird that people defend Bitcoin with hypotheticals like this. Sure, it could be, but it isn't, and it largely seems to be going in the other direction. A lot of these arguments assume that price of energy is the only input, but the availability of mining hardware is also a constraint, and once you have it, you have a strong incentive to run it 24/7.
There are a few “climate-friendly” miners making a bit of noise, but the players that dominate by hashrate are using coal and natural gas. For example, here's a thread from the other day about one of the largest US miners and the difficulties they encountered bringing an old coal plant back up to capacity: https://mobile.twitter.com/anthonyc3004/status/1479506660200...
There are a few “climate-friendly” miners making a bit of noise, but the players that dominate by hashrate are using coal and natural gas. For example, here's a thread from the other day about one of the largest US miners and the difficulties they encountered bringing an old coal plant back up to capacity: https://mobile.twitter.com/anthonyc3004/status/1479506660200...