Microsoft is adding another power-saving feature to your Xbox Series X or S that could help you save on electricity bills.
Arriving imminently with the console’s April update, a new option will let you adjust your Xbox’s active hours. With it, you can set the time during which your Xbox will stay in Sleep mode. At other times, it will revert to the lower-power 0.5W shutdown state.
This is a great way for more demanding gamers to get a “best of both worlds” experience, the console booting up near-instantly when you want it, but not wasting energy when you won’t be around.
How to save money on your electricity bills
Sleep makes your console boot faster but, when it consumes as much power as two LED lightbulbs, is it worth saving a couple of seconds?
In fact, consuming 10W versus 0.5W adds up over the weeks. It amounts to almost £30 a year at 34p/kWh energy pricing, versus £1.48 when using the Energy Saving shutdown mode. And that’s before you even start playing games. For more on this topic, read our home energy-saving tips guide.
The update follows the launch of the environmentally friendly Shutdown (energy-saving) mode in February. Xbox claims the feature uses up to 20-times less energy than the standard Sleep mode.
The relatively new mode can schedule game downloads and updates so they will result in “lower carbon emissions because a higher proportion of electricity is coming from lower-carbon sources on the electric grid,” as long as “regional carbon-intensity data is available”. These are downloads that take place while the console is not in active use, most likely overnight.
If you have already installed the February update, your console will automatically be placed in the power-saving mode.
“For every two consoles that switch to Shutdown (energy saving) for one year, we will save the equivalent amount of carbon removed by one tree planted and grown for a decade,” says Microsoft.
These modes do not affect how your console plays games, just its behaviour when not in use. We strongly recommend checking what mode your Xbox currently uses, found in its Settings menu.
Microsoft says it aims to be a “carbon-negative, water-positive, and zero-waste company by 2030.”
