Console Firmware Updates Could Cut Energy Usage By More Than Half

Console Firmware Updates Could Cut Energy Usage By More Than Half

Game consoles really suck up the electricity. And in 2010 most of that electricity was used by consoles when they were in idle states. 68% in fact. It turns out simple firmware updates could cut these energy costs dramatically. That would save you a ton of money in energy costs.

Energy wastage in 2010 was around 10.8 terawatt hours, or $1.24 billion. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University who have been analyzing the 2010 data suggest that auto-off or auto-standby features should be standardized to help save power. If standardized, it could make a big difference.

The Xbox 360 received an update back in May of 2011 that enabled auto-standby by default, but it’s still up to PS3 users to do it themselves. The researchers say that individually it wouldn’t mean much, but as a whole it would make a large impact.

Source Geekosystem

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