This is taken from from Wal-mart at the  “green gaming summit.”

  • There were about 101 Million games sold in plastic cases last year. That translates into green house gas emissions equal to over 9,000 cars!
  • Some of the next generation consoles can be used to play DVD or Blu-Ray media. Doing this uses more energy, a LOT more, than a stand alone DVD or Blu-Ray player.
  • If we left one of a sample of our next generation consoles on 24/7/365, we consume as much energy as TWO refrigerators in that same timeframe!
  • If half of us did this, consoles alone would consume as much energy as it takes to power a city like San Diego.

This is their solution:

  • Switching to cardboard packaging would be like taking almost 4,000 cars off the road in terms of equivalent green house gas emissions.
  • Working with console manufacturers on coding and power usage design can reduce the power consumption when we use our devices for media playback.
  • Developing software and hardware that allows us to save the game so we do not have to leave it on would allow us to turn it off during a meal break or overnight without loosing our place. Additionally, come clever programming would allow the console to go into a lower power, standby mode when not in use.
  • Focusing on the next generation of consoles would allow the machines to be built from the ground up to use less power while providing an even better experience.

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