No one except power companies and current holders of large amounts of cryptocurrency benefits by the staggering amount of energy being poured into this completely asinine model.
If cryptocurrency is supposed to bring the benefits of decentralization to the masses and usher in an era where the "little guy" is more free, it needs to solve that equation somehow.
There are many things being worked on to solve the energy usage. Proof of Stake is one, and different types of it are already in use at scale (dPoS on EOS, etc)
If cryptocurrency is supposed to bring the benefits of decentralization to the masses and usher in an era where the "little guy" is more free, it needs to solve that equation somehow.