[ad_1]
Aurich Lawson / Getty Images
The “instant on” feature enabled by default on the new Xbox Series S / X consoles could absorb a total of 4 billion kWh – the equivalent of a year of operation for a large power plant – from US owners alone until 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 suggests, the ‘instant on’ feature on the S / X series (and Xbox One before it) allows users to bypass the usual boot time when restarting the console. This saves about 10 to 15 seconds of wait time per power cycle on the S / X series, compared to about 45 seconds on the Xbox One. (This is separate from the much-promoted Xbox Series S / X ‘quick resume’ feature which loads game state for recent titles directly from the system’s fast SSD storage and works in both modes)
The “Instant on” standby also allows the system to periodically check for system updates in order to download and install them between game sessions. But by leaving the “instant on” function active, the Xbox Series S / X consumes 9-10 watts of power 24 hours a day, even when not actively used, compared to less than 1W if the standby settings are set to “power” backup mode.
The Xbox Series S / X initially drew 25-28W of ‘instant on’ standby power at launch, but a recent firmware update caused a dramatic reduction, putting new systems below the ~ 13W drawn by the mode. Xbox One “instant on”. The PlayStation 5, on the other hand, uses between 1 and 2 watts when idle in “rest mode.”
It all adds up
Power consumption in the single-digit watt range might not seem like much, but it can add up when millions of systems are left plugged in and idle for years at a time. For a single console, that extra 9W of ‘instant on’ power consumption can add up to 78 kWh per year, or about $ 10.60 in energy costs for an average home in the United States (according to the EIA average of October 2020 of 13.6 cents / kWh).
To estimate the total “instant on” additional power consumption on all Xbox consoles, NRDC author Noah Horowitz told Ars he assumes 30 million US sales of the Xbox Series S / X through ‘in 2025 (a number itself based on estimated Xbox One sales). Most of these sales would be concentrated near the launch of the system in Horowitz modeling.
Horowitz then assumed that two-thirds of all Xbox owners would stick to the “default” power setting on their system. “We don’t have hard data on this, but it’s based on a typical anecdotal experience in which users typically stick with the default option, rather than opting out and choosing something different. “said Horowitz.
With all of this taken into account, 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. This is roughly equivalent to the annual output of a 500 MW power plant, and this translates to around $ 500 million in additional energy costs and 3 million tonnes of additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere according to the calculations of the NRDC.
“Given these numbers, we hope most users would be willing to wait an additional 5-10 seconds for their console to restart if they knew the impact,” writes Horowitz.
Uncheck this box
NRDC urges Microsoft to change system defaults to ‘power save’ mode right out of the box worldwide (this is already the case in Europe, thanks to the Energy Efficiency Directive of the region). This change could be implemented through a firmware update for existing systems and in the factory for newly sold systems in the future. Microsoft has yet to respond to a request for comment on the matter from Ars.
The NRDC also notes that high-end game consoles are absolute power hogs when it comes to the simple function of playing movies or streaming TV shows. New consoles draw from 31W (for Xbox Series S) to 70W (for PS5) when streaming from Netflix or Amazon Prime in NRDC tests. That’s a lot more than 3W or more for a dedicated streaming box like Roku or Apple TV.
“We have repeatedly urged Sony and Microsoft to include a dedicated low-power chip for video playback in their consoles, and this demand is even greater today given the potential for long hours of binge watch through the console, “writes Horowitz.
[ad_2]
Source link