If new bitcoins were worth billions, billions in energy would be wasted mining them. (the denomination of newly-created bitcoin is adjusted to keep the growth

If new bitcoins were worth billions, billions in energy would be wasted mining them. (the denomination of newly-created bitcoin is adjusted to keep the growth rate at the prescribed amount regardless of how much CPU power is dedicated to mining. So regardless of the bitcoin price, the energy needed to mine new bitcoin is close to the value of bitcoin created. Otherwise mining would be a free lunch.)