Yes, and the block reward can be claimed without any transactions in the block. On BTC this never happens, on other chains it's quite common, since no one uses

Yes, and the block reward can be claimed without any transactions in the block. On BTC this never happens, on other chains it's quite common, since no one uses them. That $60 in electricity 'per transaction' is simply not correct, the value of the block reward doesn't come from transactions. The transaction fee does.