Eco Friendly Gaming

The NYTimes recently covered a report created by the Electric Power Research Institute which examined the energy efficiency of the three most popular video game consoles on the market today (Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Sony Playstation 3). The study concluded that the Wii is by far the most energy efficient option considering it consumes one-sixth as much power as the Xbox and Playstation. The reseach was done in a very simple manner; basically researchers played the same video game, Madden NFL 11, for one hour on each game console and recorded the energy consumption over this period of time. The Wii reportedly used 13.7 watts, the Xbor 87.9 watts, and the Playstation 84.8 watts.

You can look at this energy disparity as follows: “Over the course of a year where the user does some serious gaming (5 hours, 45 minutes a day), the Wii consumes energy equivalent to a flourescent light fixture, where the other two consume energy equivalent to a washing machine.” This disparity in power demand can be attributed the the quality of graphics that each system is capable of outputting. The question for consumers then becomes whether or not they are willing to consume substantially more power just so that their gaming experience will be shown in higher definition. If you have any interest in having a low impact lifestyle, the Wii is the obvious choice.

EcoGeek via NY Times

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