Every year, the Annual Energy Outlook  from the U.S. Energy Information Administration  tries to identify the big trends that are likely to shape the next 20 years in energy – and in this year’s edition, some key trends  are different from those that shaped the last 20 years. For instance:

In fact, overall energy demand will grow by a pretty modest 0.3 percent per year, and the EIA doesn’t expect it to rise as fast as it did before the Great Recession. That’s partly because of wider social trends. For example, the EIA is on the pessimistic side in projecting economic growth, and thinks population growth will be modest. That’s important, because more people means more demand for energy,