> If not for the energy costs NFTs

NFTs themselves don't have any energy costs. Depending on what network you're using for buying/minting/trading NFTs, there might be energy cost associated with it, but not all NFTs are equal. NFTs based on Proof-of-Stake networks won't have the same energy cost as NFTs based on Proof-of-Work networks.

Unfortunately, it seems that most NFTs are based on the Ethereum platform, which is currently Proof-of-Work. Fortunately, Ethereum is moving to Proof-of-Stake slowly but surely.

But the point still stands, NFTs themselves have no energy costs, only the transactions on the network where they live have that.