They provided no evidence for their claim that energy use has increased. They just said “it contradicts what I’ve heard from everyone else.” Since my comment was about efficiency, energy per capita or per device used is the best measuring stick.
World population is projected to increase for a bit more and then stabilize around 10 billion. Population growth has been declining since 1963.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_growth
Why is a direct quote from the article you yourself cited not sufficient for you?
It’s not even like it’s buried in there. The bit I quoted is a bold heading, right under a graph that shows the same thing.