You can : Build starports and fleet
Cast edicts
Cast claims
Engage in pacts (especially commercial)
Which will surely have more value than 2 energy. What do you think ?
Well considering my overwhelming penchant for playing Inward Perfection empires two of those things are off the table anyway, and I find the AI isn't even worth building fleets to fight when a Fortress Citadel will wipe anything that comes near it. And with IP you hit that point around the late-early game where you'll make more influence than you can ever hope to spend on edicts, even when they all used it back in 2.1.
So yeah I'll take 2 energy over a resource I can't spend fast enough (influence) to build way over the starbase cap because the only penalty there is in their upkeep cost.