Looks like the much-touted government conservation program is, unsurprisingly, nothing really more than a little PR telling people to please conserve, pretty please. Oddly, Bush probably could in a sense lead by example by touting all the features of his green-friendly fake ranch in Texas, but that's unlikely to happen because the ranch serves as a symbol for all things which stand in opposition to treehuggerness of any kind.
Still, I have to imagine that someone in charge is truly frightened about the coming energy situation. Whether it's simply high gas and heating prices, or as I suspect fears of actual supply disruptions (which may or may not happen), someone in the administration is a wee bit worried and knows that deserved or not the political backlash from an energy crunch would be vicious.
