in the same vein as those of use who eek every foot out of a drop of fuel...

http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/appliance/app2.pdf

A few years old, but a good primer on the power bricks in your outlets, and what already exists to make them up to 2x more efficient at load, and draw well under 1W when the attached load is off. Also talks about why it hasn't been done to date.

On average, a homeowner probably has a dozen bricks plugged in, all running at 50% or lower efficiency, and drawing around 2W even when the load is not plugged in to it. It's like we're all keeping a small lightbulb burning 24/7, and popping on some more when we use the equipment, owing to the transofrmer losses. Unplugging or using power strips helps kill the standby load, but not the inefficiency.

There are companies making switching power supplies, but prices for small-quantity buys (like a homeowner replacing his bricks) are around $20/per. Anyone know where you can walk in and buy a few?

Not sure what, if anything in the new energy legislation deals with power supplies. I suspect nothing.

It is not only the brics...standby power in appliances is huge. If you have a TV which is older than, say 10~12 years, its standby power can be 25~40 watts.
VCRs were something like 10 watts. Stereos something like 10. The list goes on and on.

I now firsthand experience, I borrowed a wattmeter and audited my home appliances. I was stunned.

There are several governmental initiatives, mostly European, to reduce standby power on appliances. It started with 1 watt, reduced to 0.5 watt, and will become (if not already) 0.3 watt. Here in the US we have got the Green Star initiative, which is mostly voluntary, but legislation is being studied to make it mandatory.

Most internal power supplies on stuff bult since the early 90s are switching, not xformer based, so are more efficient. Standby loads in those are mostly due to running clocks, LED displays, and quiescent loads from all electronics.

In this light, they could be viewed as 'useful' loads- they make the user experience more pleasant (subjective). This is as opposed to the pure waste of a xformer brick sitting there dissipating power even with zero attached load. Standby loads are not necessarily bad. Inefficient transformers providing those standby loads are bad.

Energy Star only addresses the ratio of standby power to active power, and does nothing about making the power conversion more efficient. A partially loaded transformer is horribly inefficient- well under 50%. And most bricks are well over-matched to the load for liability concerns.