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You would hope that in 140~ years we have the power problem sorted out, if not, Bitcoin mining is probably the least of our worries.

The power expended on mining directly correlates to the value of bitcoins. If the amount of power expended on mining decreases to far then it becomes cost effective to attack the network.

Power expended on mining must remain constant or ever increasing lest the whole thing collapse.

This is where it gets interesting. Bitcoin miners only reward then are transaction fees. So these must go up.

No. They will flee to mining other crypto currencies. If all of this turns out to be e big Ponzi scheme or becomes illegal and just about everyone loses interest in mining crypto currencies, maybe then will power consumption fall.

As difficulty rises bitcoin payouts will decrease asymptotically. The idea is to let the market do its work and have the price make up for it.