Save Energy: Turn off your consoles

[Spidey-Bat]

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_con...-money-video-games-and-energy-efficiency.html

Video game consoles consume a "staggeringly high" amount of energy, according to a report the Natural Resources Defense Council is releasing on Wednesday. How much electricity do they use each year? About as much as it takes to power the city of San Diego.

There's plenty of room for improvement. We can cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion and avoid 7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to the report.

How much can you personally save? Depends on what brand you choose. The Sony Playstation 3 and Microsofts Xbox 360 use as much as nine times more energy than the Nintendo Wii.

Habits play a crucial role as well. The systems use nearly the same amount of power when they are turned on and idle as they do when you are actively playing a game or watching a movie. If left on continuously, the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 will consume the same amount of energy as two new refrigerators over the course of a year.

Here's how the three major brands stack up against each other:

NRDC pay to play graph

Image from NRDC "Lowering the Cost of Play" report

* Sony Playstation 3 is the most power-hungry model. For the 2007 version, you'll spend about $12 a year if you turn the console off when you're not using it, compared to about $134 if you leave it on all the time.
* Microsoft Xbox 360 ranks a close second. If you shut it down when you're not playing a game or watching a movie, it costs about $11 to operate annually. Leaving it on continuously will cost you $103.
* Nintendo Wii uses significantly less energy than the others. It costs about $3 a year if you turn it off after use, compared to about $10 if you don't.

The comprehensive report outlines significant changes industry needs to make. For now, though, here's what consumers can do to make a difference.

* Always turn the system off when you are done playing a game or watching a movie. Don't assume that just because you turn off the TV that your console shuts down too. It doesn't. If you're in the middle of the game, save it so that you can pick up where you left off.
* Enable the automatic power down feature, which will shut down your device if it's left idle for a certain amount of time. This isn't always easy to do and you might need to install software first so click here for step-by-step instructions.
* Limit movie watching on gaming devices. Viewing movies on a stand-alone unit is a lot more efficient. The Playstation 3, for example, uses five times more power than the stand-alone Sony Blu-Ray player to play the same movie.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Who the hell thinks that turning the TV off will turn the console off too?

 

[Electro UK]

* Always turn the system off when you are done playing a game or watching a movie. Don't assume that just because you turn off the TV that your console shuts down too. It doesn't.

Nice to know they're not treating people like morons...

EDIT: Geo got there first dang snabit.

 

[Addendum]

So how much money did this Natural Resources Defense Council waste on researching and reporting about common ****ing sense

 

[ProjectPat2280]

So how much money did this Natural Resources Defense Council waste on researching and reporting about common ****ing sense

HAHAHAHAHA! Too TRUE!!!

 

[Mister J]

Do that many people just leave their systems on when not gaming?

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Do that many people just leave their systems on when not gaming?

WAY off topic here, but Mister J, LOOOOOVE the avvy and sig bro. How about that game tonight???? Im STOKED!

 

[Spidey-Bat]

So how much money did this Natural Resources Defense Council waste on researching and reporting about common ****ing sense

Does it matter? It's not like our economy is bad........................

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Do that many people leave their video game systems on? I always turn them off when I'm done playing. I only know one person who didn't turn his system off, but I think that's just because he was always high.

 

[Havok83]

Do that many people just leave their systems on when not gaming?

My PS3 is always on. The only time Ive ever turned it off is if I had to move it but other than that, its been on since I got it a year and a half ago

 

[블라스]

YOU MONSTER!

 

[The Bruce]

My PS3 is always on. The only time Ive ever turned it off is if I had to move it but other than that, its been on since I got it a year and a half ago

On standby right? Not on - on?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I used to leave my PC on all day. Sometimes I still do if I'm downloading something big. But 90% of the time now, I turn it off when I go to work. I've never left my console on for more than an hour at a time unless I'm actively playing a game (sometimes I'll pause the game to eat dinner or something and leave it on if I'm too far away from a save point or whatever).

 

[Havok83]

On standby right? Not on - on?

yes on standby. My PS3 is automatically set to go to standby after 1 hour of no activity. I never completely shut it off by powering it down from the off switch in the back

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't think very many people do. I figured standby is what they meant by "off" for the PS3, since that's what it goes to when you hit the power button.