Xbox’s “Careless Decision” will cost Series X owners $ 1 billion in electricity

Xbox Series X

We already knew the PS5 and Xbox Series X were two power-hungry consoles, but a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council sheds new light on the problem.

According to the study, Xbox Series X owners are likely to see an extra billion euros on their utility bills, all thanks to a seemingly small decision by Microsoft.

power saving mode

Although Microsoft gives users the option to use energy saving mode, which significantly reduces power consumption at the cost of 10 seconds of additional startup time, this feature is disabled by default.

The Xbox Series X | S consoles are instead delivered with activated Instant-On functionality, which consumes significantly more power, but reduces charging times. This decision by Microsoft is likely to increase the cost of electricity for many customers.

Cost and energy consumption

“Based on a model that NRDC carried out until 2025, this seemingly insignificant decision by Microsoft could lead to an annual charge on electricity generation equivalent to a large coal-fired power plant and new Xbox owners would have to reckon with an electricity bill of around 826 million euros. “Wrote Noah Horowitz, Senior Scientist at NRDC.

“The NRDC estimates that around two-thirds of users leave the standard Instant-On mode enabled on their Xbox and that by the end of 2025 in the US alone, nearly four billion kilowatt hours of electricity will be wasted when on standby and not in use will. That corresponds to around three million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, ”added Horowitz.

In short, you should put your console into sleep mode and buy a rechargeable battery. You will save your wallet as well as the earth.