Basically, I am a newbie and my question maybe sounds silly.

But after learning the basic mechanism of Bitcoin, I can't stop thinking how wasteful the mining electricity power is and, is it an essential part of a cryptocurrency?

For now, all I can understand is that the minging system is designed for 2 purpose: distribute new created BTCs & maintain transactions.

Could there be another way of doing this without so much powerful computing force?

I can't figure it out but I am still hoping there will be someguy finding his muse in the future.

Or maybe mining is the only way and I am just babbling...lol.