Rather than having a ridiculous number of computers competing to be the fastest to complete the calculations that underlie blockchain activities (the source of the power usage), blocks are instead given to a single node to complete, and your chances of getting that block are higher the more existing token owners have "staked" with it. PoW: you get blocks because you're working hard; everyone has to work harder to keep up. PoS: you get blocks because your node is popular, within a certain limit (because you give good rewards, because your node is owned by a good cause, w/e).

But this is part of the problem: people passing doom-and-gloom judgment without knowing what is going on. This information is easy to find and people have been screaming it for weeks, but it gets drowned out by the hysteria. Meanwhile, I STILL don't see any new fossil fuel regulations or a GND on Biden's desk, and no one seems to care.