A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes communicating a query over a network to a plurality of entities that reside in a domain, the query including a request for data relating to energy use. The query can be generated by one or more computing devices belonging to the domain. A selected one of the computing devices can control power consumption for the entities in the domain. In other embodiments, a discovery protocol (DP) and a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) is used for transporting events regarding the entities that connect or disconnect from the network. The entities send discovery events over a DP/LLDP protocol, identifying them as part of the domain. In yet other embodiments, the method includes querying a selected one of the entities to determine, if the selected entity moved to a certain energy level, an energy consumption value at the certain energy level.