One of Xbox Series X/S Features is Harmful to Environment
It turns out Microsoft's next-gen console may be harming the environment with its instant-on feature. So says a study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Microsoft must be pleased with the sales of the Xbox Series X and S, since it plans to increase the production of both console models. However, it seems like there may be a party pooper in the equation as studies in the States have shown the devices to be extremely harmful to the environment. And that's just because of one of the console's convenient features.
What's all the fuss about? It turns out that the next-gen console from Redmond literally wastes electricity when we use the "instant on" function (shortens the startup time from about 45 seconds to about 15 seconds). In connection with this option, the console consumes more power, not only during the attempt to start up, but it consumes about 9-10 W per day also at rest.
Furthermore, further research by the Natural Resources Defense Council has shown that if all Series X/S Xboxes in the US (estimated to be around 30 million units by 2025) were to run this feature at the same time, their power consumption would reach 4 billion kWh by 2025, which in turn would be equivalent to around 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Fortunately, Microsoft executives have already taken steps to reduce the power consumed by its hardware; research is underway to make power-saving mode more efficient, and units sold in Europe already have this feature enabled by default. The situation in the West, and in the rest of the world, on the other hand, seems to be a little more complicated, because the responsibility lies with the users. As Microsoft's spokesperson said in a statement for Ars Technica, consumers don't have to just use this particular option to launch the console, as it costs them just a few seconds of waiting more, and they can help the environment by doing so. Here's where the problem comes in that some people may simply not care about the environment, and there have been calls that the best solution is to remove the quick launch feature altogether.
