For just accessing a simple resource, it does not use a whole lot of power because it only gets activated when the resource is under load and it helps to sort traffic based on effort placed to the POW puzzle. You can choose to place zero effort and be put in the back of the line, but people who choose to put in some small effort will be put in front of you, and people who put in a larger effort will be in front of them until the resource is no longer oversubscribed, and then it will drop back down to zero. That’s how the Tor network handles it and it works incredibly well. It has stopped the denial of service attacks in their tracks. In most cases, it’s hardly ever even active. Just because it is there, deters attacking it.
PoW uses a lot of electricity on the client side so environmentally it’s a poor solution, especially at scale.
For just accessing a simple resource, it does not use a whole lot of power because it only gets activated when the resource is under load and it helps to sort traffic based on effort placed to the POW puzzle. You can choose to place zero effort and be put in the back of the line, but people who choose to put in some small effort will be put in front of you, and people who put in a larger effort will be in front of them until the resource is no longer oversubscribed, and then it will drop back down to zero. That’s how the Tor network handles it and it works incredibly well. It has stopped the denial of service attacks in their tracks. In most cases, it’s hardly ever even active. Just because it is there, deters attacking it.