Published on January 26th, 2015 | by Guest Contributor

Energy Consumption of Gaming Consoles: These Games SUCK!

Ever wonder about the energy consumption of gaming consoles? Unfortunately it’s quite high. Learn how to reduce your energy use when you play.

Oroeco recently wrote a post about the the energy consumption of gaming consoles, and it is pretty shocking! The energy use from these gaming consoles is quite high, and it seems like it just keeps going up! Read on to learn more about how you can reduce your energy use when you play and choose a better gaming system to boost energy efficiency in your home.

Gaming Consoles are Tarnishing your Green Lifestyle

Originally published on Oroeco.

Gaming consoles are using about 60-80% more energy than previous models, but what accounts for that ridiculous increase when almost every other home appliance and tool has become MORE energy efficient in recent years?

Turns out that the devices have increased in electricity usage because of changes to memory, larger hard drives and better graphics. The cost of running them alone is not huge (about $5-10 each year based on average 6.4 weekly hours, according to the NYT article), but most of the energy used for the console is when the device is off! According to the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), the majority of the energy expended for gaming is from when the console is on standby mode, as the system is waiting for voice commands and keeping USB ports ready– all day (or all night) long! Simply turning off the console will reduce the energy usage by a significant amount of this vampire power; you might need to spend a few minutes setting up the console, but the trade off is immense:

“[Nearly] half of the Xbox One’s annual energy is consumed in connected standby, when the console continuously draws more than 15 watts while waiting for the user to say ‘Xbox on,’ even in the middle of the night or during the workday when no one is home. If left unchanged, this one feature will be responsible for $400 million in annual electricity bills and the equivalent annual output of a large, 750-megawatt power plant.”

In addition to the live and vampire energy use of the consoles, the whole entertainment package needs to be taken into consideration, too. Those larger-than-life TVs, wireless internet and other accessories integral to the function of the consoles means that gaming can be a huge energy suck in the home. A large plasma screen TV can consume 250 kilowatt hours a year, about half of what it takes to power a refrigerator!

Learn more and about how these energy suckers… well, suck! Get tip to keep your consoles from ruining your electric bill here on Oroeco.

Image Credit: Gaming photo via Shutterstock

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Tags: energy consumption, energy use, gaming, gaming consoles, home energy consumption, Oroeco, vampire power, video games

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