Natural Resources Defense Council I 28
Lowering the Cost of Play: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Video Game Consoles
Endnotes
1 Many users do not turn their video game console off. A game
console that is left on 24/7 will use approximately 10 times more
annual energy than one that is turned off after use. Due to the
absence of any studies, we based our calculations on the assumption
that 50 percent of users leave their device on when they are finished
playing a game or watching a movie.
2 Wii is a registered trademark of the Nintendo Corporation. Xbox is
a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. PlayStation is a
registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
3 All utility cost estimates assume typical retail electricity rates of
$0.10 per kWh.
4 NPD Group, www.npd.com.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 The Nielsen Company, “The State of the Console,” Q4 2006.
8 Ben Drawbaugh, Live Coverage From BDA Press Conference,
January 8, 2007, www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/live-coverage-
from-bda-press-conference.
9 Ecos utilized a high-accuracy digital power meter (Yokogawa
WT1600) that logged power measurements every five seconds over
different time intervals depending on the operational mode. The
average power reading was taken across the different time intervals in
order to get a measurement for each mode.
10 Ecos utilized a digital meter (Yokogawa WT1600) for the tests on
the video game consoles, which logging power measurements every
five seconds over different time intervals depending on the mode.
A WattsUp? Pro power meter was utilized for the tests performed
on the stand-alone high-definition players, and this meter logged
data every second. An average was taken across the different time
intervals for the modes in order to find the average power.
11 Ben Drawbaugh, Live Coverage From BDA Press Conference,
January 8, 2007, www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/live-coverage-
from-bda-press-conference.
12 Folding@home is a distributed computing project designed
to perform calculations and modeling for protein folding and
molecular dynamics for Stanford University. The goal of the project
is to better understand protein folding as it relates to medical
treatments. Users can download the program from the menu on
their PS3, and once it is downloaded, power-down settings can be
selected by the user.
13 These estimates reflect the savings possible if all of the current stock
of consoles were able to power down after one or three hours. If
all consoles in the United States today could be represented as a
weighted average of the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360,
and Nintendo Wii, the annual national energy use would be 25.5
billion kWh/year and the national savings potential with a one- or
three- hour power down would range from 17.6 to 19.5 billion
kWh/year. These estimates are more likely to reflect the savings
potential of consoles in the coming years as older models are
replaced by these more advanced units.
14 Existing performance scaling in computer processors includes the
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology and AMD’s PowerNow!
TM
Technology.
15 The Nielsen Company, “The State of the Console,” Q4 2006.
16 Roberson, Judy A., Carrie A. Webber, Marla C. McWhinney,
Richard E. Brown, Margaret J. Pinckard, and John F. Busch, Energy
Analysis Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(LBNL), “After Hours Power Status of Office Equipment and
Inventory of Miscellaneous Plug-Load Equipment,” January 2004,
http://enduse.lbl.gov/info/LBNL-53729_REV.pdf.