Intel says that historically energy usage displaying devices have failed and will continue to fail because consumers get them, look at them for a week and then their novelty wears off.  They then get relegated to next to the common weather station thermomether from Radio Shack on the kitchen window sill.  Although smart people have always said that nothing changes unless it is measured first, in the case of energy, that may not be true.

Intel thinks that by adding energy monitoring to common appliances- like a clock radio or answering machine- it will at least be seen more often.  Whether consumers take action or not is a mystery.   Manufacturers all have different plans and ideas to try to stake a claim in the energy management gold rush.  There are no winners yet.  Stay tuned to see the races.