[ad_1]
Aurich Lawson / Getty Images
The “instant on” feature that is enabled by default on the new Xbox Series S / X consoles could absorb a total of 4 billion kWh, the equivalent of one year of operation for a large power plant, just of the US owners through 2025. That’s according to a preliminary report released this week by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on the environment.
As the name implies, the “instant on” feature of the S / X Series (and the Xbox One before it) allows users to skip the usual startup time when turning the console back on. That saves 10-15 seconds of standby per power cycle on the S / X Series, compared to 45 seconds on Xbox One. (This is separate from the highly touted “fast resume” feature on the Xbox Series S / X which loads the game state for recent titles directly from the system’s fast SSD storage and works in any mode)
The “instant” standby mode also allows the system to periodically check for system updates to download and install them between game sessions. But leaving the “instant on” feature active means that the Xbox Series S / X consumes nine to 10 watts of power 24 hours a day, even when not actively being used, compared to less than 1 W if configured. standby is switched to “power saving mode.
The Xbox Series S / X initially drew 25-28 W of “instant on” standby power at launch, but a recent firmware update caused a drastic reduction, putting new systems below the ~ 13 W consumed per Xbox One’s “instant on” mode. The PlayStation 5, by contrast, uses 1 to 2 watts when idle in “sleep mode.”
It all adds up
Power consumption in the single-digit watt range may not sound like much, but it can add up when millions of systems are left plugged in and idle for years. For a single console, that extra 9W of “instant” power consumption can add up to 78 kWh in a year, or roughly $ 10.60 in energy costs for an average US home. (Based on October EIA average 2020 of 13.6 cents / kWh).
To estimate total “instantaneous” extra power consumption across all Xbox consoles, NRDC author Noah Horowitz told Ars that he assumed 30 million US sales of the Xbox Series S / X through 2025 (a number itself based on estimated Xbox One sales). . Most of those sales would be concentrated near the launch of the system on the Horowitz model.
Horowitz then assumed that two-thirds of all Xbox owners would stick with the “default” power settings on their system. “We don’t have hard data on this, but it’s based on a typical anecdotal experience where users tend to stick with the default option, rather than opt out and select something else,” Horowitz said.
With all of that included, Microsoft’s decision to have “instant on” as the default power mode adds up to 4 billion kWh of additional power consumption over the next five years. That’s roughly equivalent to the annual output of a 500 MW power plant, and translates to around $ 500 million in additional energy costs and 3 million tons of additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as calculated by the NRDC. .
“Given those numbers, our hope is that most users will be willing to wait an additional 5 to 10 seconds for their console to reboot if they know the impact,” Horowitz writes.
Uncheck that box
The NRDC is urging Microsoft to switch the default system settings to “power save” mode immediately worldwide (this is already the case in Europe, thanks to the region’s energy efficiency directive). That change could be implemented by updating firmware for existing systems and at the factory for newly sold systems in the future. Microsoft has yet to respond to a request for comment on the Ars matter.
The NRDC also notes that high-end game consoles are an absolute power hog when it comes to the simple function of playing movies or TV shows in real time. The new consoles draw between 31W (for the Xbox Series S) and 70W (for the PS5) when streaming from Netflix or Amazon Prime in NRDC testing. That’s a lot more than 3W or so for a dedicated streaming box like the Roku or Apple TV.
“We have repeatedly urged Sony and Microsoft to include a dedicated low-power chip for video playback on their consoles, and this request is even more important today given the potential for long hours of ‘binge-eating’ through the console.” Horowitz writes.
