[Jaysun]

Consumers don't have to sacrifice anything.

Idiot. What about the price increases in appliances? Do they think that by simply waving their hand they can have appliances that use fewer watts when they're turned off? Do appliance manufactures have some guy in the back of the factory to whom they can yell, "Hey Chuck, do me a favor and tighten the watt waster thingy down to two".

Are they even sure that it's possible to drastically reduce the number of watts wasted? If so, it's going to cost some money and will almost certainly effect the performance of the appliances.

Hey California, while you're at it, why not wave your hand and mandate that cars get 200 miles per gallon?

[supercat]

Idiot. What about the price increases in appliances? Do they think that by simply waving their hand they can have appliances that use fewer watts when they're turned off?

Probably. And they're probably not 100% wrong. I would suspect that the increase in demand for efficient off-line switchers is going to cause more companies to develop inexpensive ones. There may be some market inertia, but I suspect there are some definite improvements to be made. That having been said, things like clock displays are going to use power regardless of the supply efficiency.