This week’s Do One Thing comes from my friend Courtney over at the NRDC, and it is about gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3 and how much energy they waste. Did you know that even when idle, gaming consoles cost consumers more than $1 billion worth of wasted energy each year? Me neither! According to their report, one game console can use as much energy in a year as all the appliances in your kitchen combined – including the refrigerator. Not good.
Video game consoles nationwide use about as much electricity in a year as every home in San Diego combined, and can significantly add to consumers’ electric bills, according to a new report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) today. Much of this energy use is consumed by machines that are left on, but not in use. “If you leave your Xbox 360 or Sony Play Station 3 on all the time, you can cut your electric bill by as much as $100 a year simply by turning it off when you are finished playing,” said NRDC Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz. “With so many struggling in today’s economy – it’s important to realize there are simple steps gamers can take to lower their energy costs. And if manufacturers make future systems more energy efficient, they’ll be doing the right thing for consumers’ pockets, for our clean energy future, and for the environment.”
So, please – when you have finished playing the game, turn the console off. It will save you money and reduce the amount of energy your household needs from the grid!
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