I guess you could. But the presence of Bitcoin and proof-of-work actually speeds up the competition in the renewable energy space by making it more profitable than it otherwise would be. That's a good thing, it gets us to the world we want more quickly.

Building more renewable energy capacity only to have that capacity immediately used to mine Bitcoin rather than replace some existing fossil fuel use is not progress.

I don't see why not. One consequence is investment in renewable efficiency, which applies to the energy industry generally outside of crypto mining specifically. Another consequence is needing something to do with excess energy, which leads to more competition amongst sellers in the grid, making energy cheaper. This does marginally reduce dependence on fossil fuel.

If conversion directly into money through bitcoin is so damn liquid that this is what we're doing, what is this 'excess' energy you're talking about?

In this scenario there is NO SUCH THING as 'excess' energy. Or reducing dependence on fossil fuel, so long as that can still be used to produce energy to mine bitcoin with.

You're right about competition and market dynamics, but it is utterly and completely dedicated to converting ALL the energy into money without any left over. To fail to do so is to fail to be competitive. I really do not understand this talk about 'excess' energy.

Proof of work still has value in creating demand for excess renewable power generation in regions that can provide it, e.g. https://www.coindesk.com/chinese-city-known-for-bitcoin-mini...

Could that energy go to better (which is subjective of course) things? Sure, but if it's not and there is demand as well as excess supply it incentivises energy companies to at least _keep up_ with what they currently provide.

The problems with that are: 1. Newly built renewable energy goes to mining rigs, while the original demand still exists so coal mines remain. 2. Usage at peak generation means fewer reasons to build energy storage systems for quiet times (they're still handled by non-renewables).