+500 - totally agree...or at least stop in the middle when you have very low energy or warn you if you crush them all that you will die. I can't keep in my head all the energy expenditures for all actions, and this one regularly gets me killed.
Crushing won't run you out of energy, but it will leave you at 1. If you get an energy loss tick at that point, sucks to be you? Yeah, probably needs to be fixed.
Energy decreases by .8% of your total maximum energy every 90 seconds. That's what was meant by "an energy loss tick."
I routinely get a message saying that I can't crush as much as I want to because I don't have enough energy, or because my grinder doesn't have enough uses left. This brings me to my question: why is the limit high for rocks but much lower for barnacles? I think the limit is fifty for making talc, but something like 300 for making elements.
It may warn you when you use the grinder, but if you click on the element and say crush, it will let you crush them all and die with no warning...(it was either smelting or grinding that did this...can't check it in game since it's closed right now).