Long-term, its not about barring progress, but to have progress and more energy efficient models. The sum-games we play in regard to energy usage, don't necessarily stack up in dynamic systems; the increased energy usage of generative models may very well lead to less compute hours spent behind the desk drafting, revising, redrafting and doing it all over again once the next project comes around.

What remains though, is that increased productivity has rarely lead to a decrease in energy usage. Whether energy scarcity will drive model optimisation is anyone's guess, but it would be a differentiating feature on a market saturated with similarly capable offerings.