Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 are energy hogs!

Once one invests in a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, it would seem like the only on-going costs to worry about afterwards are the games and accessories.  However, for those that are not careful, both consoles can run up a significant electricity running cost, especially if the consoles are left switched on around the clock. 

According to a paper released by the National Resources Defence Council, the Sony Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consume up to around $150 worth of electricity a year to run when left on around the clock, not to mention the large carbon footprint they also leave.  When switched off after every use, the annual cost falls to around just $13 on average per year.  Even still, the Nintendo Wii costs just $10 a year if left on around the clock, less energy than even what both the Xbox 360 and PS3 use on average when turned off after each use!

To give a comparison, the NRDC states that the two consume more than 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) each per year when left on continuously, which is around the same annual usage as two new refrigerators.  Both consoles also use about the same amount of energy when idle as when they’re active.  Based on over 40% of US households containing one or more consoles and assuming about half leave their console running idle around the clock, they found that the energy use of video consoles accounts for an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours annually or the equivalent electricity use of the city of San Diego.

However, while both consoles have power management capabilities, the PS3 has these disabled by default.  Even in its latest firmware, one needs to go into a badly named menu to active them.  The Xbox 360 has a default power off time of 6 hours.  Even with the power management capabilities enabled, some games do not work properly with the power management and end up preventing the console from going into a power saving mode. 

The report recommends that manufacturers implement an automatic power-down feature in new consoles to take effect when the console is left idle for between 1 and 3 hours, something that manufacturers can easily automate with a firmware update.  Other recommendations include adding a sleep button and improving the processor design to make new consoles more energy efficient.  If the consoles had proper user-friendly power management features, it would cut about $1 billion off the nation’s electricity bill, which in turn would reduce CO2 emissions by around 7 million tons each year.

For the early Blu-ray adopters who bought the PS3 as a budget Blu-ray disc player, they may quickly end up paying more than the saving once the running cost adds up, as the PS3 uses 5 times the power of Sony’s most power hungry standalone Blu-ray disc player they tested.  Worse still, neither the PS3 nor the Xbox 360 provide any power management features for movie playback, such as when users leave the player on at the title screen after watching the movie.