Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, set out the trends upending the global energy markets and ushering in what he termed an “age of plenty.” He said: 1. Cheap fossil fuels are here to stay because production costs are tumbling. 2. Intermittent renewables will dominate electricity supply by 2040, with huge challenges for grid managers. 3. Electricity demand is flattening out, losing its link with economic growth. The implication is that energy will be plentiful for years to come, Liebreich said in a presentation Tuesday at the research group’s conference in London. Oil will linger closer to $50 a barrel than to $90, and renewables will gain market share, he said. “There has been an enormous amount of innovation in the unconventional gas industry,” Liebreich said. “The cost reductions have been similar to what’s happening in solar.” Here’s what he identified: The cost of shale gas […]