Aspects of a method and system for energy management are provided. In one embodiment based on expected activity in one or more nodes in a network, processing capabilities in the network may be matched with expected processing loads. Processing loads in a network node may be determined based on deep packet inspection of traffic transmitted/received by the node, inspection of data exchanged between subsystems in the node, a state of an operating system running in the node, data processed or waiting to be processed in the node, information exchanged between an energy management entity in the node and an energy management entity in one or more other nodes, computing tasks delegated to the node, and/or instructions transmitted along with a computing task delegated to the node.