By 2040, computers will need more electricity than the world can generate (theregister.co.uk)

It isn't a flat line: http://i.imgur.com/oTUC2Nf.jpg. The black bar I added is flat.

Or reduce power consumption.

It's not constant, and the scale is logarithmic.

That said I think this prediction is really insane and goes against common sense.

As pointed out by JosephRedfern, the production line is not exactly flat but has a very slight grade (http://i.imgur.com/oTUC2Nf.jpg). This means they postulate an increase in production.

>Why is the world's energy production a constant value from 2010 to 2040? Surely we produce more energy today than we did 30 years ago.

Not that much compared to the change in computers from 30 years ago.

>So a typical adult human brain runs on around 12 watts

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thinking-hard-calo...

Obligatory URL: https://xkcd.com/605/

I agree with the general sentiment, but their point here (as I understand it) is to show that the current trend cannot continue like this. The source paper has a poor choice of word in an appendix, saying "when the energy required for computing will exceed the estimated world’s energy production" with "will" instead of "would", but it's clear from the text they don't believe this. The next sentence is: "Thus, radical improvement in the energy efficiency of computing is needed".