U.S. Video Game Consoles Yearly Consume As Much Electricity As San Diego (Yearly)

U.S. Video Game Consoles Yearly Consume As Much Electricity As San Diego (Yearly): "

That background is the same color as my bathroom, no lie.

According to a recent study, the 63 million PS3, XBox and Wii video game consoles in the US consume as much energy (EXCLUDING the required television) yearly as the entire city of San Diego. Is that a lot? I have no idea. I know a zillion is a lot.

EPRI [Electric Power Research Institute] said if the heaviest gamer plays about six hours a day over a year -- a figure found by Nielsen Co. in 2006 -- then his Wii would consume 29 kilowatt-hours, his Playstation 178 kWh, and his Xbox 360 184 kWh. A plasma TV, by comparison, averages 242 kWh a year.


That makes gaming a formidable energy user. U.S. homes have about 63 million video game consoles, and together they use about as much energy as San Diego does in a year, according to a 2008 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Much of the energy use isn't even from playing video games, according to NRDC -- it's from the idling that goes on after the gamer has left the room. The group said idling uses about as much energy as playing.

If gamers turned off their systems when they finished playing, and if manufacturers made systems that turned themselves off when inactive, consumers would save $1 billion a year in utility bills, NRDC said.

Interesting, so Wii's use next to no energy compared to Playstations and Xbox's. No wonder they're so weak. Blah blah blah I have an eye appointment at 3:15 and then I'm off to get drunk for the night and kill some f***ing big-ass sharks with my bare body. WHO'S COMING WITH ME?!

Video Gamers Use as Much Energy as San Diego [scientificamerican]

Thanks to Melissa, who has a zero-carbon footprint because she steals all her power from neighbors. God you're green."