SSDs aren't required for Chia, they're just faster for plotting which is a one-time process anyway. Once plots are made they can be "farmed" (mined) indefinitely for the energy cost of idling drives. So the environmental cost is an up-front capital cost instead of an ongoing power cost which in my opinion is a lot better. And this is not to forget that the storage market is already huge anyway and that "procuring drives" can be used for storage other than Chia, whereas the energy wasted by ASIC Bitcoin miners is just a complete waste.
Wouldn’t be reusing those disks for anything that mattered. It’s “waste by proof of buying drives for mining.” Nothing wrong with that! Proof of work is all that matters. But it’s the same thing, it’s not actually a waste at all and it is equivalent to bitcoin. Spending energy is how we make coins trustlessly. It’s a Good thing.
