NRDC Rates Energy Efficiency of Video Game Consoles 260
An anonymous reader writes "Today, more than 40 percent of all homes in the United States contain at least one video game console. Recognizing that all that gaming could add up to serious demand for electricity, NRDC and Ecos Consulting performed the first ever comprehensive study on the energy use of video game consoles and found that they consumed an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year — roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego. Through the incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year. In this November 2008 issue paper, NRDC provides recommendations for users, video game console manufacturers, component suppliers and the software companies that design games for improving the efficiency of video game consoles already in homes as well as future generations of machines yet to hit the shelves." The full report is freely downloadable as a PDF.
Recursive calculation? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First Solution (Score:5, Funny)
The thing they're ignoring is the Fun factor.
If you want to measure efficiency, you do it by comparing energy consumed to work accomplished.
So, if console A has a fun factor of 5, and consumes 1 unit of energy, but console B has a fun factor of 15 and consumes 2 units of energy, then console B is more efficient.
The only way to solve this equation is to understand the value of fun.
Clearly, we need to create a International Fun Agency to test for this if we're ever going to make our games more efficient, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce taxes and save the children.
Re:Folding@Home- murdering the planet? (Score:4, Funny)
This is why I run ClimateChange@Home 24/7 to help climatologists solve the problem of climate change!
Wombats are Amazing (impressive at least) (Score:1, Funny)
Wombats are an order of magnitude more efficient. Amazing. The more and more I learn about the wombat the more impressed I am.
Re:We were talking about power usage... (Score:3, Funny)
I've heard that the 360 has no less than THREE red lights that come on just to let you know when the system is on (otherwise it's impossible to determine on from off). Seems like overkill to me, but what do I know.
You got it backwards! (Score:3, Funny)
If you want to measure efficiency, you do it by comparing energy consumed to work accomplished.
So, if console A has a fun factor of 5, and consumes 1 unit of energy, but console B has a fun factor of 15 and consumes 2 units of energy, then console B is more efficient.
Actually, console A is more efficient, as can be easily shown. Efficiency is work/energy. And everyone knows fun is the inverse of work -- if it was fun, it wouldn't be called work, as is also evidenced by the fact that the more fun your console is, the less work you do because you're spending all your time playing on the console. Thusly, efficiency = (1/fun)/energy = 1/(fun*energy), and console B, by being more fun and thus accomplishing less work, is the less efficient console.
The only way to solve this efficiency problem in consoles is to start making them less fun! Yet console makers seem bound and determined to make the problem worse. Nintendo is the worst offender here, it's as if they want to destroy the planet. Sony seemed to understand this problem at first, but even they eventually gave in and started putting out horribly, wastefully fun games.
Re:We were talking about power usage... (Score:4, Funny)
I guess there are ignorant dipshits who will believe everything they read on the internet
There must be. I just read it on the internet!
Re:Electrical socket on/off switches (Score:3, Funny)
> Anyone know where I can find such a thing?
in the UK