This is all true at the moment. Heavy research is going into making blockchains more scalable and energy efficient within the Ethereum ecosystem. If fruitful, these improvements will address the concern you have about efficiency.
I _think_ I'm aware of some of these things you're referring to (raiden network, etc), but I wonder if you could list some of this research ... I'm trying to keep up with the latest developments.
Yeah I'm guessing he's referring to Raiden network, and the planned move to Proof of Stake.