NRDC Rates Energy Efficiency of Video Game Consoles

An anonymous reader writes "Today, 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. In this November 2008 issue paper, NRDC 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." The full report is freely downloadable as a PDF.

Comments

Penny wise, pound foolish

[mcgrew]

That console might use what, 100 watts of electricity? Your microwave cooking for twenty minutes is equal to running that console for over two hours.

Your toaster is 1000 watts. The five minutes it takes to make toast uses the same electricity as the console running almost an hour.

Let's not even talk about your furnace blower, refrigerator, clothes dryer, dishwasher, let alone a space heater.

Meanwhile, consoles plug into the TV. My TV uses 250 watts of juice. YMMV depending more on your brand of TV the console is plugged into than the actual console.

Want to save energy? Turn your PC system off at night unless you've got a giant download, are running a server, or some other valid reason to have it on.

Replace those 100 watt incandescant bulbs with 25 watt CFL twirley bulbs. I don't have any more incandescants; If I leave every light in the house on it still doesn't equal my TV set, let alone dishwasher.

Your console's energy use is not the problem.

Nintendo is Amazing (impressive at least)

[Fox_1]

In looking at the power consumption figures on Page 10-12 it's amazing the difference between Nintendo and the other Console Makers.

MS Xbox off 3.1 W Idle 117.5 W Active 118.8 W
SonyPS3 off 1.1 W Idle 152.9 W Active 150.1 W
N's Wii off 1.9 W Idle 10.5 W Active 16.4 W

That's just some of the numbers and no typo's Nintendo is an order of magnitude more efficient when running. Amazing. The more and more I learn about the Wii and Nintendo's current business the more impressed I am.