Wii-Wise

I'm sure this will interest my friend over at the Bird blog, and not just because her kids love the Wii (actually, I do too, except when it creates Wii elbow or Wii toe).

At any rate, the Natural Resources Defense Council just found that the energy consumed by video game consoles equals "an estimated 16 billion killowatt-hours per year," roughly the same annually as the city of San Diego.

"Through incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year."

At least 40 percent of American homes have at least one gaming console and the NRDC's study offers recommendations for users, manufacturers, and component suppliers for improving the efficiency of video game systems.

One tip: turning them off.

Users who turn off the newest Sony PlayStation 3 when they're not playing spend about $12 each year for electricity, compared to the $134 spent by players who leave the console on.



However, Nintendo's Wii doesn't use that much energy. Wii owners who leave the console on after use spend $10 a year on electricity, less than users of the other gaming systems who turn them off after use.