There seems to be a factual error in this: other than what the article claims the number of transactions should not change the amount of energy required. The M

There seems to be a factual error in this: other than what the article claims the number of transactions should not change the amount of energy required. The Mining network mines a block roughly every 10 minutes, no matter how many transactions there are. If the amount of transactions rises, the cost in Bitcoin per transaction rises, not the energy required. The cost in Bitcoin rises because you have to give the miners an incentive to actually process the transaction (that is, include it in a mined block). Since the number of transactions per block is limited, there is a bidding competition. What increases the energy required is only the mining, which depends on the value of Bitcoin. The more valuable Bitcoin is, the more miners will be thrown at it, consuming more energy. Correct me if I am wrong...