I like Bitcoin except for the Proof of Work part. It has led to an arms race which causes tons of electricity to be wasted around the world.

I think the only reason for Proof of Work is to make it seem like "mining" is some expensive activity. But it doesn't have to be. It's a bit silly, actually.

In practice, PoW just winds up "electing" the next miner who you hope will compile all the transactions they see into a block. That's a single point of failure, they can charge inordinate fees, they can be DDoSed, and so on.