With what model are you comparing them? Lasers are not energy efficient with respect to how much power they output compared to how much you put in, but that is also not how you measure the efficiency of a pesticide. What you want to know is the energy spent per treated m2 of field, and I don't see how you can immediately dismiss targeted lasers over uniformly sprayed pesticide without further analysis of the average number of weeds in an m2 of field combined with the power requirement to kill it with lasers.
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With what model are you comparing them? Lasers are not energy efficient with respect to how much power they output compared to how much you put in, but that is also not how you measure the efficiency of a pesticide. What you want to know is the energy spent per treated m2 of field, and I don't see how you can immediately dismiss targeted lasers over uniformly sprayed pesticide without further analysis of the average number of weeds in an m2 of field combined with the power requirement to kill it with lasers.
Pesticides are no more uniformly sprayed. Nowadays, there is monitoring of the crop health by zone, with cameras on trucks.
I'm not advocating for pesticides. But I'm saying lasers are the wrong solution. Nobody is even considering permaculture? Seriously?