If you are a proud owner of the Microsoft Xbox One, then you should know that the gaming console could slowly be draining your pocket. When the Xbox is in standby mode, it is still draining a significant amount of power that could cost you high energy bills each day. Repeated requests by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to Microsoft have been ignored and the tech giant seems to be unwilling to do anything about it.
Last year an NRDC (US) study looked at the energy consumption of the Sony PS4, Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U. They found these three gaming consoles to consume as much 10 billion to 11 billion kilowatt-hours (KWh) annually in the United States. The amount of energy wasted by the three put together each year is enough electricity to power all the homes in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, for a year. The amount of wasted energy is also the equivalent output of four large power plants, and their associated pollution.
According to a report on Switchboard NRDC (Natural Resources Defence Council) Staff Blog, Sony has rectified the major power leak in its latest consoles (the PS4) by switching off the USB ports after the controllers are completely charged. Microsoft has yet to fix the Xbox One for power drains.
Microsoft had reduced the power drain from its "Instant On" mode (from 18 watts down to 12.5 watts), the mode is still a factory default. The user is not even given the option to disable it during the initial setup of the device. There are settings available deep inside the menus where a usual user would not wander into. However, users who purchase the One in Europe are with the feature deactivated by default, with the user given the option to turn it on if needed.
The annual power wastage due to the feature being kept on by default is almost 40 per cent of the entire energy in the year.
To disable the feature, follow the below instructions:
- To get to the Power & startup settings menu:
- Go to the Home screen.
- Press the Menu button on the controller.
- Select Settings. Note: You can say “Xbox, go to settings” from any screen, but you’ll need a controller to navigate once you’re on the Settings screen.
- On the Settings page, select Power & startup.
- Select the option that you want in the Turn off after pull-down menu.
You must know this:
Using either the Microsoft Xbox or Sony Play Station to stream movies draws 30 to 45 times more power to show the same movie as a device like the Apple TV, Roku Box, or a Chromecast stick. So if you want to watch a movie, why not go the traditional method or simply use a low power consuming device.
