Green Tip and Trade

Avoid video game drain.

Angela Kim Dec 3, 2010

If left on all the time, some video game consoles can consume as much energy per year as two new refrigerators– that translates to a lot of wasted energy.

A 2008 study commissioned by NRDC showed that if video game consoles incorporated 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.

But you don’t have to wait to start saving energy now, XBOX 360 and Sony Playstation have power-saving auto-shutdown modes which gamers can easily enable. For instructions on how to enable auto-shutdown mode on your console go to NRDC’s report “Lowering the Cost of Play” and click on the instructions links on the right.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.