Can proof-of-space replace proof-of-work?

Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent, came up with a new cryptocurrency concept to replace the energy-hungry proof-of-work system used by Bitcoin and Ethereum. It seems to be gaining some traction, so I thought I’d have a look. Instead of “wasting“ energy (I’ve put that in quotes because the second law of thermodynamics ensures that all energy is ultimately wasted), Chia wastes disk space. More on how it does that in the video. Of course, the problem is that making hard drives takes energy. So as far as I can tell it’s just shifting the energy waste up-front.