NRDC: The Latest-Generation Video Game Consoles - How Much Energy Do They Waste When You’re Not Playing? (PDF) M AY 2014 NRDC ISSUE PAPER IP:14-04-B The Latest-Generation Video Game Consoles How Much Energy Do They Waste When You’re Not Playing? AUTHOR: CO-AUTHOR: Pierre Delforge Noah Horowitz ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Report Written by Pierre Delforge, NRDC Noah Horowitz, NRDC Testing and Analysis Conducted by Pierre Delforge, NRDC Reviews by Forest Kaser, Energy Solutions Jonathan Wood, Tenvic Pat Remick, NRDC Verena Radulovic, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The work to prepare this report was funded by a grant from the US EPA to NRDC. The views and findings expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not state or reflect those of the EPA. ABOUT NRDC The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing and works with partners in Canada, India, Europe, and Latin America. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC. NRDC’s policy publications aim to inform and influence solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and public health issues. For additional policy content, visit our online policy portal at www.nrdc.org/policy. NRDC Director of Communications: Lisa Benenson NRDC Deputy Director of Communications: Lisa Goffredi NRDC Policy Publications Director: Alex Kennaugh Design and Production: www.suerossi.com © Natural Resources Defense Council 2014 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY s a follow-up to NRDC’s 2008 report on the energy use of video game consoles,1 we performed extensive laboratory tests on the latest generation of the most Apopular consoles—the Nintendo Wii U, Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One—and found they have incorporated many energy efficiency features into their designs and offer greater performance. However, the Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox One consume two to three times more annual energy than the most recent models of their predecessors. The Wii U consumes less energy than its predecessor the Wii, despite providing higher definition graphics and processing capabilities, in large part thanks to its very low power in connected standby mode. NRDC projects that together, these three brands of new consoles will use roughly 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually in the United States alone, once all previous-generation consoles in use have been replaced by new ones. This estimate takes into account the efficiency improvements that are likely to be achieved via advances in semiconductor design in the coming years. To put this into perspective, game consoles are on track to consume as much electricity each year as all the homes in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country, and cost consumers more than $1 billion to operate annually. Astoundingly, $400 million of that will be consumed in the middle of the night, when the console is in standby mode but still listening for voice commands like the Xbox One or using higher power than necessary to keep USB ports active like the PS4. PROJECTED VIDEO GAME CONSOLE U.S. ENERGY CONSUMPTION ANNUAL ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION EQUIVALENT TO THE LARGE BILLION OUTPUT POWER KILOWATT OF HOURS PER YEAR PLANTS* 10-11 4 *500 MEGAWATTS EACH ANNUAL AS MUCH ELECTRICITY AS ALL ELECTRICITY BILLS THE HOUSEHOLDS IN THE CITY OF 4TH-LARGEST $1 BILLION CITY IN THE U.S. HOUSTON PAGE 3 | The Latest-Generation Video Game Consoles: How Much Energy Do They Waste When You’re Not Playing? Some of our key findings: n The new consoles consume more energy each year playing video or in standby mode than playing games. n The Xbox One and PS4 consume two to three times more annual energy than the latest models of their predecessors, the Xbox 360 and PS3. n While the new versions are more powerful, the two- to three-fold increase in energy use is due to higher power demand in standby and on modes and, in the case of the Xbox One, more time switched on due to its TV viewing mode. In this mode, the console is used in addition to the current set-top box to access cable or satellite TV, adding 72 watts to TV viewing. n The Xbox One draws less power than the PS4 in on mode. However, the Xbox One consumes a lot more energy when not in use (connected standby mode). n N early half of the Xbox One’s annual energy is consumed in connected standby, when the console continuously draws more than 15 watts while waiting for the user to say “Xbox on,” even in the middle of the night or during the workday when no one is home. If left unchanged, this one feature will be responsible for $400 million in annual electricity bills and the equivalent annual electricity output of a large, 750-megawatt power plant. n C onsoles have incorporated some good design practices, including better power scaling and well-implemented automatic power down to a low-power state after an extended period of user inactivity. n The PS4 and Xbox One are very inefficient when playing movies, using 30 to 45 times more power to stream a movie than a dedicated Apple TV or Google Chromecast. The results of our testing and analysis are summarized below:2 Game Play Power Video Streaming Power Connected Standby Annual Energy (watts) (watts) Power (watts) Consumption (kWh/y) Wii U 34 29 0.4 37 PS4 137 89 8.5 181 Xbox One 112 74 15.7 233 Our report includes several recommendations on how console manufacturers can bring down the energy use of these consoles, and many of the suggestions are readily achievable with software updates, modifications to setup screens, or minor hardware changes. We estimate these improvements could save another 25 percent beyond natural semiconductor efficiency trends. This would save American consumers $250 million annually in electricity bills and conserve enough electricity to power all the households in San Jose, the 10th-largest city in the United States. Several of the biggest opportunities for manufacturers are these: 1. Reducing Xbox One power draw when in connected standby with voice command enabled. 2. Reducing PS4 power draw in standby with USB ports live (when no device is charging). 3. Reducing Xbox One TV-mode power, and giving users the option to watch TV when the console is off or in a very low-power state. 4. On both the Xbox One and PS4, reducing video-streaming power to levels closer to that of a dedicated video player. 5. Allowing users to opt out of “Instant On” and voice-command features in Xbox One’s out-of-the-box setup menu, so they use this high-energy-consumptive mode only if they choose to. PAGE 4 | The Latest-Generation Video Game Consoles: How Much Energy Do They Waste When You’re Not Playing? STUDY OBJECTIVES There are three major platforms of home video game consoles—Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation, and Nintendo’s Wii. Between 2005 and 2013, nearly 110 million video game consoles were sold in the United States, an average of nearly one per household. Internationally, there were an additional 140 million sold. Over that period, game consoles expanded beyond pure gaming to new functions such as streaming online video and music and playing DVDs and Blu-ray discs. In fact, some industry executives have claimed that media consumption has become the primary use of their consoles. These new usages have resulted in increased time powered on, performing other activities than playing games. This trend in increased functionality has continued with the latest generation of consoles released in 2012 and 2013. At the end of March 2014, less than five months after launch, 10 million new generation PS4 and Xbox One consoles had already been sold globally. These two consoles represent the bulk of the new generation’s energy consumption. Nearly 6 million Wii U consoles were also sold globally since their launch in November 2012. The new generation of game consoles reflects major redesigns of the hardware, software, and user interfaces and features. Some of these high-performance consoles also include voice and motion recognition, which can significantly increase energy use depending on how it is implemented. As a follow-up to our initial study on video game console energy use performed in 20083, NRDC has conducted in-depth testing and analysis of the power draw and annual energy use of the new models released in November 2013, the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One, along with the previously released Nintendo Wii U. NRDC’s data-gathering and analysis focused on the following tasks: n M easuring the power demand of each of the new consoles in their various operating modes—including game play, navigation mode, media streaming, and standby when the console is turned off—and comparing these to the power draw of earlier models (measurements were made with and without camera peripherals such as the Xbox One’s Kinect). n Estimating the energy consumed annually by each of the new consoles, based on projected usage patterns. n Estimating the national energy consumption of these devices and the associated electricity costs and carbon pollution emissions their usage causes. n Assessing the potential energy impact of setup screens and user menus, in particular what happens when the user does and does not turn off the console after play.