He wasn't ignoring anything, he was pointing out that that criticism is based on outdated information. Almost all modern blockchain designs (from the past ~10 years) do not promote energy waste via PoW.
It's fine to point out the energy waste of more traditional PoW chains (particularly Bitcoin, which accounts for the bulk of PoW), but to frame that as a problem with blockchains in general is misguided.
I wouldn't say there any major technical hurdles to bootstrapping PoS, the project just has to decide where the initial tokens should go - insiders, ICO, airdrops, etc. Many modern chains have been PoS from the start, like Cardano, Solana, Algorand, Avalanche, NEAR, etc.
Or do you mean in the sense that (some argue) the most fair way to do an initial token distribution is PoW with no premine?
It's fine to point out the energy waste of more traditional PoW chains (particularly Bitcoin, which accounts for the bulk of PoW), but to frame that as a problem with blockchains in general is misguided.