EPA calls for greener consoles starting 2010
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Oct 18th 2008 at 4:30PM }
The EPA hopes to include modern home gaming consoles in their Energy Star plan which has been regulating the energy usage of certain home appliances since 1992. The latest draft of the plan addresses the power consumption rates of Wiis, Xbox 360s and PS3s, requiring an auto-off function, a sleep mode, and low-energy network settings in all consoles produced after July 1, 2010. We certainly hope the plan is adopted, lest we be left to our seemingly inevitable, Mad Max-esque fate.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
J.Goodwin @ Oct 18th 2008 4:38PM
I believe that all three actually feature this, even though the auto-off feature is normally turned off by default. The good thing is that it can be patched in by software too.
Dr. Katz @ Oct 18th 2008 4:46PM
Go, go government bureaucracy!
Jake11 @ Oct 18th 2008 4:48PM
i beat that game tape
BigD145 @ Oct 18th 2008 4:58PM
What's up here, Engadget? Why are you singling out the Wii? The Wii is way ahead of the game, here. It's an energy sipper when on and in standby mode. An idle Wii uses less than 10% of what the other consoles use.
Ridgecity @ Oct 18th 2008 5:06PM
actually it's 5% even when running at 100%...
BigD145 @ Oct 18th 2008 7:45PM
Hmm. Engadget. Joystiq. Ah well. Partners, anyway.
Anyone know what's changed in the power consumption of the PS3 and 360 since 2007? 2007 numbers: 360 = 194 watts, PS3 = 171 watts, Wii = 17 watts
Bandit5317 @ Oct 18th 2008 9:34PM
The newer 360s (with the Falcon motherboard) only use 120 watts while playing a game.
Vidikron @ Oct 19th 2008 12:59AM
Hah... my alarm clock uses even less energy than the Wii. But like the Wii, it's not very advanced either.
Ridgecity @ Oct 18th 2008 5:05PM
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-2.htm
If you want to know the average power consumption for the Ps3, xbox360, Gaming PC and the Wii.
"As you play your beloved Super Mario game tapes, your Nintendo Box drains energy from earth's dwindling supply."
Gladly, it's 10x less than the other two consoles.
TheQuickBrownFox @ Oct 31st 2008 10:11AM
I agree the Wii is miles ahead with Connect 24 off, but it is the worst offender with Connect 24 on considering all of that time it will spend in standby.
The "off" power usage is disappointingly high on all of the consoles. With the Wii with Connect 24 switched off, 13 hours spent out of the house is the equivalent of 1 hour playing Wii games! This is ridiculous.
Give us hard power off switches on the front of consoles! It's not that hard to flick a switch at the start and end of a gaming session.
Chin-Poh @ Oct 18th 2008 5:11PM
Its too bad the PS3 and 360 don't have a sleep function like the PSP or standby/hibernate in Windows. Just press the switch again and your right back in the game as you left it.
Or have I missed it?
Phantom @ Oct 18th 2008 5:19PM
no thay don't , but thanks to FW 2.5 , the PS3 has everything else "required" on the list , I'm sure FW 2.6 will have a sleep function , Sony could do it with the PSP , they can do it with the PS3 . And I'm sure MS will get to work on this after they finish the dashboard .(I would die of laughter if the 360 is banned because MS had to wait until it was annual update time )
Chin-Poh @ Oct 18th 2008 5:38PM
I don't understand why a sleep/hibernate function haven't been put into the 360 and PS3. It is of course a large waste of energy when I leave my 360 on and I have to go somewhere else for a short while. I'd love to just have it go to sleep and then right back into where I left it when I come back.
Weclock @ Oct 18th 2008 5:15PM
30 years? hell I can beat that. I got an old NES at home and a few computers and new consoles to boot, I'll have it down to twelve by the afternoon, tomorrow.
HitNRun @ Oct 18th 2008 5:19PM
If it can be done without inconveniencing me or adding to the hardware failure rate, fine.
If it increases the hardware failure rate, I don't care if I have to burn baby seals to get the proper voltage.
[playwhutyalike {C.E.P}] @ Oct 18th 2008 6:21PM
Actually baby seal skin makes for great controller cozys. The key is to beat them yourself.
Pwnzerfaust @ Oct 19th 2008 12:45AM
I use baby seal fat to insulate the walls and attic.
A reservoir of their tears feeds is my primary water source.
Lone Starr @ Oct 19th 2008 3:46AM
But it will affect you:
"We certainly hope the plan is adopted, lest we be left to our seemingly inevitable, Mad Max-esque fate."
Guys, companies will use this as an excuse to increase the prices of consoles. Do not want!
Faar @ Oct 18th 2008 5:23PM
"Requiring" a sleep mode for consoles made after 2010? Lul, none of current consoles even have energy star certification, they wouldn't be bound by any such requirements.
Not that consoles would be the right end to start in, try 500W plasma displays and halogen lighting fixtures, air conditioning units, heated outdoors swimmingpools and jacuzzis etc. Those are true energy hogs, poor ol' Mario is just a scapegoat...
BigD145 @ Oct 18th 2008 5:44PM
You have to start somewhere. Cheap energy was obviously the wrong place to start.
Albanian_Killa @ Oct 18th 2008 5:39PM
Damn hippies...
ryan @ Oct 18th 2008 7:15PM
damn electric bill.
Vince UK @ Oct 18th 2008 11:31PM
Damn future generations.
1337stra @ Oct 18th 2008 5:52PM
This might mean a console redesign for consoles, a good sign in my book.
Sora @ Oct 18th 2008 6:36PM
As opposed to a console redesign for handhelds?
zuburi @ Oct 19th 2008 12:33AM
bee-yootiful.
Negativecool @ Oct 18th 2008 5:50PM
Consoles??
Have they SEEN computer GPU's? Christ those things are ridiculous. I remember, back in the day, when you could actually fit them in a case that wasn't the size of an actual TOWER, and they didn't require an enormous power upgrade to 1,000 watts.
When they hell are GPU makers going to be forced to make more efficient cards instead of just making the cards bigger so more shit to be put on it?
If things are left unchecked, we will have to steal plutonium from libians to come up with 1.21 gigawatts just to run our damn GPU's. And personally, I don't want to have to travel back in time to save my life and warn myself to wear body armor...I really don't.
FSK405K @ Oct 18th 2008 6:22PM
As long as there are no limitations on the actual functioning or technical design of the consoles, I'm fine with it.
As HitNRun stated above: "If it increases the hardware failure rate, I don't care if I have to burn baby seals to get the proper voltage."
MBO @ Oct 18th 2008 6:34PM
i wonder how much the energy the EPA's computers are burning...
John @ Oct 19th 2008 4:01AM
Funny you should mention that. Especially since SOP at every government facility I've ever been in is to keep all the computers running 24/7 so that the IT department can push updates overnight. You know cause, like they couldn't do it at any other time.
Anticrawl @ Oct 18th 2008 7:55PM
I wish the 360 had a sleep timer (other than the one that shuts it down after 6 hours) so I could watch movies off my harddrive and go to sleep without worrying about it burning up over night.
horngreen @ Oct 18th 2008 8:42PM
The Wii uses less power because nobody who owns one plays it after about a day or two. My 360 uses too much power but thankfully it doubles as a space heater. And finally of course we'll have to JUST WAIT UNTIL KILLZONE 2 COMES OUT to see how much energy a PS3 uses. It will be cool to be an old man when you young uns are left to kill each other for food/water and oil in 40 years.
Triforceowner @ Oct 18th 2008 9:01PM
"We certainly hope the plan is adopted, lest we be left to our seemingly inevitable, Mad Max-esque fate."
Wouldn't you want their plan to fail, then?
Bass Masterson @ Oct 18th 2008 9:08PM
It's the sun, stupid.
By the way, you could possibly save the same amount of energy if you just got Al Gore to get a smaller house and stop flying around in his private jet. Just sayin'.
Monkey Thing?!!? @ Oct 18th 2008 9:32PM
Ahh, Wii. Champion of the proletariat
No wonder its called Wii.
Pwnzerfaust @ Oct 19th 2008 12:36AM
I would care, but I'm too busy playing Gears on my plasma television in my air-conditioned house while leaving the water running on all the taps.
aj @ Oct 19th 2008 11:07PM
I have my third world child slaves play my games for me so I have more time to spray chemicals into the air while smoking and letting my car idle.
theturtle363 @ Oct 19th 2008 1:33AM
if we still had games in our Mad Max world i think id prefer it
Chris Johnston @ Oct 19th 2008 2:08AM
One more step toward pure liberal fascism. These enviro-Marxists are not going to stop until we are all living in the woods again.
Vidikron @ Oct 19th 2008 3:58AM
Down with energy efficiency!
Psalm Bowser @ Oct 19th 2008 6:05AM
Liberal Fascism? Easy labels are easy.
Are you dumb, deaf, and blind, or have you just missed the last few months? Governments bailing out omnipotent, multinational banks; the current world administrations, capitalist governments, they're ones in league with business. There is no overarching ideology with these guys, they're driven by pure money.
Stop talking, Chris.
JoeArc @ Oct 19th 2008 7:13AM
Haha @ Chris for living in the past!
aj @ Oct 19th 2008 11:06PM
In Germany, under the Nazi government, they were forced to use low-wattage light bulbs.
Psalm Bowser @ Oct 19th 2008 6:24AM
I don't see how anybody can criticise this measure. The environment is being fucked up and humans are to blame. Every little step helps so if the industry cannot get their act together and regulate themselves, then the federal government needs to step in and force a change. Only good can come from this.
Tim @ Oct 19th 2008 3:29PM
It is definitely NOT a scientific fact that we will be living that way under current consumption. That would ignore all history and economic realities.
And if the goal is truly to conserve energy, there is a far more efficient, far less costly way of doing so than having the EPA dictate terms. It's pretty complicated - let the price of electricity rise!
The only justifications to the political involvement such as EPA video game regulations are political, NOT economic.
And yes, I am an economist. :)
Bones3D @ Oct 19th 2008 4:35PM
What gets me, is the lack of criticism toward this generation of game consoles regarding the requirements for batteries in their controllers. (The Wii being the worst offender of them all.)
While some rechargeable solutions have been available and work fairly well (such as the Xbox 360's rechargeable controller kit), others are just plain bad to the point of driving most users to buy disposable batteries in favor of more reliability. (Here's looking at you, Nyko...) With any luck, companies like Nintendo will take it upon themselves to provide users with more elegant and reliable rechargeable solutions to use with their console's controllers.
icicle0424 @ Oct 19th 2008 7:36PM
Twisted cords! A thousand "i"'s! Duke Nukem Forever! EPA! EPA! EEEPAA!
aj @ Oct 19th 2008 11:03PM
I actually do find it horrifying that consoles (and most electronics) don't really have proper "off" buttons, and continue to use power while "off".
That's why I keep my electronics unplugged when not in use. Since I started doing that, my power bill has actually gone down by about 10$. I couldn't believe it.
So....just keep your consoles unplugged, or at least turn the power strip off. It really does help.
jumpshot @ Oct 20th 2008 10:40AM
Well, the halo edition xbox was green...
Ethd @ Oct 20th 2008 8:20PM
Easy way to put an energy star certification on any gadget:
Force all humans and scientists to remove all our gadgets that require the most minute amount of energy and force us to live in the stone age again.
The environment's all our fault. Game consoles are to blame entirely. Global warming started in the 1970's when Pong came around and natural causes such as, oh, I dunno, VOLCANOES aren't to blame one bit.
Got it?