Key context: thermodynamics dictates that heat engines waste a lot of energy.
Credit: Karin Kirk
it's a classic case of one implementation of a concept being really good, but for some utterly baffling reason everyone tries the shitty implementation of the concept instead and so everyone discounts the whole thing as a bad idea.
drinking water is a good idea, but for some reason everyone only tries drinking dirty puddle water and conclude that water gives you parasites.