But hasn't bitcoin competition advanced the development of efficiencies in power consumption OR doesn't it encourage that? Even before I began mining, I considered how it might do that for both the end user of such hardware and for massive data centers.
No the efficiency of mining does not influence the energy consumption at all. It is the exchange price of BTC that drives energy consumption.
Um.. The exchange price draws and keeps miners in the game and it allows them to cash out and pay their electric bills. But efficiency is the primary determining factor for how likely you are to receive any bitcoins per KWH of electricity consumed. If you drive efficiency up by continuing to invest in better hardware (hello ASIC's) then you are more likely to earn enough bitcoins to make it worthwhile.
So true, exchange price is quite important. But efficiency (defined as hash attempts per unit of electricity) is a serious factor if you plan to mine, as are difficulty rates, local utility rates, room temperature, etc...