How much do you value the 15 seconds you save booting up from Sleep instead of Shutdown—one decade-old tree’s worth?
How much do you value the 15 seconds you save booting up from Sleep instead of Shutdown—one decade-old tree’s worth?
Early in 2021, the Natural Resources Defense Council urged Microsoft to make an energy-saving mode the Xbox’s default. The nonprofit advocacy group calculated that having Sleep as the first-listed power mode could draw 4 billion kilowatt-hours in the US through 2025, the equivalent of a 500 MW power plant, $500 million in energy costs (at 2021 rates), and 3 million tons of carbon dioxide output.
Microsoft’s post states that switching to Shutdown uses 20 times less power than Sleep, drawing 0.5 watts to charge and detect activity in controllers compared to 10–15 watts. The Verge notes that Shutdown has been the default option on Xboxes shipped and updated since March.
Xbox One owners are receiving “Shutdown (energy saving)” as a new power mode starting today. Xbox One consoles will still receive updates overnight but will “experience a slower boot time.” In 2015, Ars estimated the yearly cost of keeping an Xbox One in standby mode at an average of $13.73.
“Active hours” will give fans of instant-booting Sleep mode a way to compromise between quick gaming and power saving.
Credit: Microsoft
“Active hours” will give fans of instant-booting Sleep mode a way to compromise between quick gaming and power saving. Credit: Microsoft
Those who don’t want to abandon the instant response of Sleep mode have some compromises available, at least if they’re Xbox Insiders. You can now set your console’s “active hours” so that the machine boots instantly between specific times but falls back to Shutdown mode outside that window. It’s worth noting, however, that remote wake is not supported while the console is shut down, so remote play sessions can’t be launched during that time, either.