PS4 and Xbox One Will Cost US Consumers $1 Billion Annually in Energy Bills

Most of that energy is wasted when the consoles are in standby according to the NRDC.

Posted By | On 16th, May. 2014

xbox-one_ps4

In a press release sent to GamingBolt, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has revealed that with the PS4 and Xbox One are on their way to cost American consumers $1 billion annually in electricity bills. Even more amazingly, $400 million of this electricity is consumed when the consoles are in standby mode.

The Xbox One, with Kinect on standby awaiting voice commands, is the biggest energy consumers among the three big consoles this generation. But the PS4 isn’t off the hook. Apparently, it’s inefficient controller charging wastes a lot of energy as well.

Pierre Delforge, NRDC director of high-tech energy efficiency, stated that, “Gamers shouldn’t be locked into higher electric bills for the lifetime of their consoles just because manufacturers haven’t optimized the performance of their products. This wastes energy and money, and causes unnecessary pollution from power plants.

“But if Microsoft and Sony follow NRDC’s recommendations, they could cut the new consoles’ electricity use by one-fourth beyond current projections through software and hardware optimizations, saving U.S. consumers $250 million on their annual utility bills and enough energy to power all the households in San Jose, America’s 10th largest city.”

According to the NRDC, once the PS4 and Xbox One replace all existing Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles – currently estimated to be 110 million in the US – they will consume 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which will be enough to power the entire city of Houston.

Other findings from the NRDC revealed that the consoles consume more energy in standby mode in a year than when playing games; half of the Xbox One’s yearly consumption occurs in standby mode as Kinect awaits commands; and that the PS4 and Xbox One, both hyped for their media viewing capabilities, utilize 30 to 45 times more power to stream movies than Apple TV or Google Chromecast. Also, if all Xbox One users in the US used their consoles for watching TV, then annual electricity bills across the US would be $300 million.

What are your thoughts on this development? Let us know in the comments.


Tagged With: , , , ,

Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

South of Midnight Reveals New Gameplay and Details in 30-Minute Documentary

South of Midnight Reveals New Gameplay and Details in 30-Minute Documentary

Compulsion Games and Microsoft have released a documentary detailing the development of the upcoming action-ad...

Farming Simulator 25 is Out Today

Farming Simulator 25 is Out Today

The newest iteration in Giants Software's farming franchise is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S...

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Widsom Was Originally Supposed to Feature a Talking Link

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Widsom Was Originally Supposed to Feature a Talking Link

"It felt really strange. Nobody knew what Link would say – that’s only natural, because he’s never spoke...

PS5 Pro’s PSSR Surpasses FSR and TSR at Lower Resolutions, Closer to DLSS3 – Albatroz Port Dev

PS5 Pro’s PSSR Surpasses FSR and TSR at Lower Resolutions, Closer to DLSS3 – Albatroz Port Dev

Kyoday co-founder Ivaylo Koralsky also believes the upscaler will play "a significant role in the potential PS...

PS5 Pro’s PSSR is “a Console First with AI Upscaling,” Says Planet Coaster 2 Dev

PS5 Pro’s PSSR is “a Console First with AI Upscaling,” Says Planet Coaster 2 Dev

"It's an exciting time to be making games; I think we're about to start seeing a new era of console innovation...

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Tops UK Sales in October, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO and Undisputed Score Big

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Tops UK Sales in October, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO and Undisputed Score Big

Silent Hill 2 remake debuted in fourth place, but launch sales in the region were behind the remakes of Dead S...