Be a Green Gamer

Refrigerators, cell phone chargers, bedside lamps, ceiling fans and other electronics consume an immense amount of energy but video game consoles may be the biggest power hogs in the house, consuming about 16 billion kilowatt hours per year.

More than 40 percent of all homes in the United States have gaming consoles and its estimated that half of these systems are on constantly, according to the National Resource Defense Council. If you have a console, or have friends and family that do, try to follow the steps below to reduce the energy consumed.

Turn off the console when not in use – An Xbox or a Playstation 3 left on 24/7 everyday uses as much energy as two fridges.

Buy a Wii – Amazingly, Wii uses about 1/9 of the energy a Xbox 360 uses when its being played. Check out the graph here to see how much money you can save.

Use the Power Saver Mode – Powering down and make a huge difference. To learn how to set up this feature on your console visit www.nrdc.org/energy/consoles/contents.asp.

Don’t Watch Movies on Your Game System – If you have a Blu-Ray movie opt to use it in a Blu-Ray Player. Planet Green says “watching a Blu-Ray movie on the Playstation 3 uses 5 times more power.”

Dispose of Mangled Systems Properly – Find a recycling center near you that can either reuse the parts, fix the item or dispose of the system properly.

liveearth.org/2009/01/be-a-green-gamer