Bitcoin has the carbon footprint of Qatar, the power consumption of Poland, the electronic waste of the Netherlands, and the fresh water consumption of Switzerland.
If Bitcoin were a country, it would be #24 in the world for energy usage, between Poland and Thailand.
This quote from @gridecon in the original post also sums up why we released Patchcoin:
I imagine that alternatives to Bitcoin (many of them probably sharing a lot of Bitcoin’s source code) will inevitably emerge and Bitcoin’s current minting process makes the currency “expensive” in terms of energy input. I believe this places it at a competitive disadvantage to other currencies and can only hinder its widespread adoption and long-term value.