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Game Console Energy Usage Comparison
Broadband writes "Modern gaming consoles consume more and more power, dissipate more and more heat and cause a lot more noise with their cooling systems compared to their brethren a decade ago.
While it's obvious that an Xbox 360 would have higher energy demands then a Playstation 1, the curious question is by how much? Even more importantly is the question of whether your console might be costing you money while you sleep. Preposterous you say? Actually quite the opposite!
We put every console in our lab through rigorous testing to find the answers to these questions and see who the energy hogs really are. "
While it's obvious that an Xbox 360 would have higher energy demands then a Playstation 1
Probably true, but not obvious.
From the writeup: Even more importantly is the question of whether your console might be costing you money while you sleep. Preposterous you say? Actually quite the opposite!
From TFA:
Let's take a look at how much power video game consoles require while in standby/off mode.
Console Energy Leakage kWh Wasted Each Year Annual Cost
Playstation 1 0.1W 1.752 kWh $0.26
Playstation 2 2W 17.52 kWh $2.63
Xbox 0.2W 3.50 kWh $0.53
Xbox 360 2W 17.52 kWh $2.63
Gamecube 0.2W 3.50 kWh $0.53
Dreamcast 0.2W 3.50 kWh $0.53
USD 2.63 per year for something that cost over USD 300! Oh the humanity!
Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
I was pleasently surprised to see they included the Dreamcast, it seems many people forget it was part of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox generation. I'm happy to see how well the Dreamcast performed as well.
Demented But Determined.
"Modern gaming consoles consume more and more power, dissipate more and more heat and cause a lot more noise"
When Atari invented the console market in the late 1970s, power costs were an issue only because of the recent energy crisis, heat mattered only if you left your cold beverage on the console, and there was no noise. Now that those problems are all cranked up in a more crowded, less plentiful, overbuilt world, we really have to worry about the power and heat. And now we can see the next crisis: overwhelming noise from all these home machines will first drive us completely mad, then churn up the atmosphere into tiny cyclones, combining with the larger ones to scour our homes into livingroom Grand Canyons.
--
make install -not war
Oh my GAWD! You mean I could lose almost $3.00 a year if I don't unplug my PS2?
But wait! Let's assume that it takes me 30 seconds to get off my lazy ass and move to the entertainment center, move the entertainment center, unplug the PS2 from the power strip, and move the entertainment center back into place so my roommate can still watch TV. I play videogames almost every day, sometimes in two or three seperate sessions. Just for argument's sake, we'll figure I do this 360 times a year. That works out to 10 800 seconds, or 180 minutes, or three hours.
Given that the federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, that means that if I spend the time unplugging the PS2, then I'll be losing money! (3*5.15 = 15.45, if my redneck math is right, which I think is more than $2.63)
I used to carry a bottle of whiskey for snake bite. And two snakes. -Nefarious Wheel
I'd almost bet that it is more efficient than its competitors-- it uses cartridges instead of cd's, so it wouldn't have to spin a cd drive all the time. I'd say the power save from that would be pretty noticable.
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So guys, why do such a half-arsed job of it? Why not be the best?
Funny, but most electrical energy in the US comes from coal mined here in the US. Now, driving your CAR supports mideast oil barons. Easy solution...drill off the East and West Coast as well as in Alaska.
Did anyone else read this and think 'Gee, go figure. A more powerful system needs more electricity.' Sounds like non-news to me.
So you should be concerned over milage in a vehicle that cost you $30,000? What if it had a "sitting in the garage" usage (as many electric cars do), would you be concerned about that?
What logical connection do you see between the cost of acquisition and the cost of operation of an console? Would it make a difference to you if the console only cost $10? Why? A cost is a cost. It's all money out of your pocket and that $20 is a couple of pizzas you didn't get to eat.
Now add up the costs of all the other devices in your house that operate similarly. Your VCR. Your Cable box. Other computuing devices. At minimun wage you might end up working a week to have your stuff doing nothing. A week is a lot of time to invest in nothing.
Which brings us to the real point of interest in the figure, which isn't actually direct financial expense. Add up all the households in the country. You should be interested in the total fuel use of the nation to power devices doing nothing?
I think you should. At any right I am, but YMMV.
KFG
Playstation 1: 0.1Watt * 24h/day * 365days/year = 876Wh = 0.876kWh != 1.752kWh
=> that gives $0.1314
Xbox, Gamecube, Dreamcast use 1.752kWh and cost you $0.2628 per console ;-)
I'm less worried about the console than a new desktop PCs. Rumour has it that 1000W and 1200W powersupplies are soon to be standard fair (my spaceheater is only 800W) to support these pigs (and that doesn't include the monitor or peripherials. At the same time we can make pretty capable laptops that draw 30W, so it isn't like energy efficient technology doesn't exist. I can live with a computer that browns out the neighbourhood when I'm in the middle of the latest 3D gaming extravaganza, but I see no justification for a machine that consumes several times more power than maxed out laptop when it is sitting idle. This is a sign of twisted priorities due to weak legislation. PCs are now significantly contributing to stress on our environment, and an aweful lot of it is completely needless -- all PCs should have all low power modes that kick in for un-demanding tasks.
The best advice for now: 1) If you must run your peer-to-peer, do it on a laptop with the screen turned off -- not your ultra-gamer with the 300W video card 2) turn off your desktop when you aren't gaming.
Crude is more or less fungible. It doesn't matter where it comes from--only that without the Middle East, prices for all types of oil would shoot up dramatically. And that's why we care about Saudi Arabia, even though our oil comes from elsewhere.
And now, a PSA from David Lynch.
If you add the power consumption (and leak) for an entire town of 100,000 habs. If 30% of the pop has an xbox360, it cost's 600,000$! It's a lot of energy. And that's why, the idle current leak is not essential. Only think in your house how many appliance has a clock on it?! Everything connected (unless there is a hard switch) leak current. We'll have to think about it very soon. A lot of electricity come from diesel or gaz or worst, coal it's a lot of pollution for absolutely nothing when we think the quantity of energy wasted to have the clock on my microwave and my range, on my coffee machine and soon on my fridge and my toaster.
I would say that this article is but a small piece in the larger issue of our energy efficiency. We are wasting a LOT of energy yearly on issues that are easily solved by a few engineers spending a little more time to find more efficient methods. Look at AMD and Intel lately. They spent the time to greatly reduce their energy consumption. While per-processor it's a decent decrease, when looked at large datacenters or the whole country, the power savings will be epic.
We as a people need to look beyond just our noses or our personal bank accounts. If we can understand how small issues per person can quickly add up to a huge issue for all of us, issues like power leakage would seem much more important.
Space for rent, inquire within
You're right, we should consider things in terms of percentages. For example, what percentage of your household's total power consumption per year comes from a plugged in Xbox360? I'll give you a hint: pretty damned close to zero. Similarly, what percentage of the global yearly energy usage do plugged in consoles comprise? I'll give you the same hint again. Just one 100W bulb left on per night is equivalent to 50 Xbox 360s or PS2s left plugged in. It's easy to look at the number of kilowatt hours used per year by these consoles and freak out about it, but it doesn't mean much until you compare it to the total amount of energy used each year, and when you do that you should quickly realize how insignificant it is and that effort to reduce energy consumption is much much better directed elsewhere (for example, replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs whereever possible).
Did anyone else read this and think 'Gee, go figure. A more powerful system needs more electricity.' Sounds like non-news to me.
No. Because its not obvious at all.
In fact, it could be argued that in computers that the opposite is more likely. After all a solar powered calculator the size of a credit card can run off the light of a candle and is a more powerful system than a 1960's computer that needed a warehouse and an industrial power supply. We're pretty accusomted to seeing computers deliver more on less.
And I bet if the article had discovered that modern consoles were 10x as powerful, and used less electricity than their previous generations, you would probably have yawned and said:
Did anyone else read this and think 'Gee, go figure. A more powerful system needing less electricity.' Sounds like non-news to me.
Two conflicting statements, both so perfectly reasonable that we would question neither. I think it IS worth reporting which one turned out to be true.
Don't you?
The interesting part is the massive growth in the consumption of energy. Take to any power distrubition person and they will tell you that meeting that demand, 24X7, is no small task, and conservation would greatly increase the reliability of the power grid, and therefore the quality of life and national security.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
That is one ridiculous and unfounded rumor. Most PC's these days come with 300-350W power supplies. While it is obvious that power requirements have been risen over the years, the growth isn't anywhere near what you are implying it to be. It took us many years to go from 250W PSUs being standard to 350W PSUs and I don't expect 500W PSUs in off-the-shelf PC's for at least another 2 years. Let alone 1000W or 1200W.
Well, the PS2 has had a bunch of revisions. If the model used in this article was a version that was a lot higher or lower (in terms of power usage) than the rest, it kind of throws off the comparisons.
This meme is propagated a lot, but it's not really insightful.
Instead of worrying about 2W, manufacturers could be encouraged to reduce the average power usage of a system in a working (ie not standby state). A saving of 10% on all appliances would be far more significant.
Of course if you argue we, not companies should be responsible, then I point out that using energy saving lightbulbs would have a far, far greater effect on your household energy consumption than switching off devices on standby.
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge proponent of saving oil* and reducing global carbon emissions. But I feel persuading people en-mass to change their behaviour should be directed at something that has a significant effect. This meme is aimed at the wrong factor of ten.
* What will we make drugs and plastic out of once we have burnt away all the oil?