The Natural Resources Defense Council has written a new report on the power consumption of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. It seems that the two state-of-the-art consoles use a large amount of energy; In particular, the amount of power consumed by consoles is significantly higher than their predecessors, and streaming emissions on systems consume more energy than other devices. As a result, users will not only cause more pollution, but also increase the environmental costs of housing. According to the group, the systems actually use more energy than the TVs they play on!
“When you play the latest games, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles consume between 160 and 200 watts of electricity, which is higher than previous generation consoles,” the report said. “It’s more powerful than the huge 60-inch TV it could be connected to! The good news is that these consoles attract significantly lower power levels when playing games designed for older consoles and are compatible with previous versions. less power during the game than the other three new consoles. “
One of the biggest calls for the latest generation consoles is how fast they are able to switch between games and applications, due to the very low loading speed. However, it seems that this is a big part of the problem when it comes to energy use. According to the group, TV shows on consoles last from 30 to 70 watts, ie 10 to 25 times the amount used through dedicated streaming devices, such as Roku or Amazon Fire Stick.
Players can’t do much about the power consumption that occurs while playing larger games, but there is one thing Xbox Series X owners can do to make an impact. According to the NRDC, the system comes with “instant on” activated in all territories other than Europe. When players switch the system to “power save”, it uses less than one watt of power when not in use.
“Based on NRDC modeling by 2025, this seemingly inconsistent decision by Microsoft could result in the equivalent of the value of a large (500 MW) power plant annually and cost new US Xbox owners about $ 1 billion. on their electricity bills, “the report said.
It will be interesting to see if Microsoft and Sony try to solve these problems or not, after the release of the report. There’s a lot of attraction in how state-of-the-art platforms are able to run faster and produce better graphics, but it’s clear that there’s been a bit of a trade-off for both gamers and the environment.
Did you buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X? Are you worried about potential energy costs? Tell us in the comments or share your opinions directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp let’s talk about all the games!