it could lessen the waste but not remedy the "stand by" power loss of the nodemcu.
A more sophisticated approach would be to power the unit via an LiFePO4 cell - so the esp can be powered directly from the cell. Powering the motor - I would resort to a spring loaded door with a solenoid release.
For the board itself I would resort to a seperate usb-serial converter for flashing and a "breakout board" for esp-12 modules.