NRDC Says Enabling Power Saver Mode on Consoles Will Save Over $1 Billion Per Year
By Stephany on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 8:48 AM PST In Game Consoles, Gamer Life, Games Industry, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony
Want to save money on your electricity bill, and thus saving the country a big whopping amount of energy; Plus saving some of the coal used at your local power plant? According to the National Resources Defense Council you help by just enabling your power-saving auto-shutdown modes which come installed on your Xbox 360 and PS3.
Per the NRDC website:
More than 40 percent of all homes in the United States contain at least one video game console. Recognizing that all that gaming could add up to serious demand for electricity, NRDC and Ecos Consulting performed the first ever comprehensive study on the energy use of video game consoles and found that they consumed an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year — roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego. Through the incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation’s electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year.
According to the website, the Nintendo Wii (long blasted by Greenpeace) uses an average of just 16 watts in active mode and uses far less power to operate than any other console. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 consumes an average of 119 watts in active mode, but offers users a built-in auto power-down option, even though the feature is disabled by default and buried within the system menu.
The biggest watt sucker of the bunch? Why, the PS3 of course.
The PS3 burns through an average of 150 watts in active mode. Back in 2007, the console drew the highest amount of power of any of the other two consoles, but in October they introduced a power management feature via am online update, but it too is disabled by default.
To find out more, or how to enable power saver mode on your systems, you can visit the NRDC website, and read their newsletter which provides recommendations for users, video game console manufacturers, component suppliers and the software companies that design games for improving the efficiency of video game consoles already in homes as well as future generations of machines yet to hit the shelves.
You know what? If it saves us money in the long run, I am game. Even if it only takes $1.00 off my bill per month, that is $12.00 a year–which can go towards a new or used game.
