A new study from a group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University estimates that that roughly 68 percent of all energy consumed by game consoles in 2010 was spent in idle mode, wasting 10.8 TWh of energy — or roughly $1.24 billion in utility costs. Though the per-user impact would be small, the authorssuggest that standardizing auto-shutoff features could significantly reduce nationwide consumption.

An update to the Xbox 360's firmware in May enabled the system's auto-off feature by default, but the PlayStation 3 still requires users to manually opt in. For more detailed analysis, check out the complete report at the source link below.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/18/2957782/console-firmware-updates-could-yield-energy-savings

Pretty crazy, never really thought how much of an impact the consoles made on energy consumption.

I always make sure to unplug my 360 after I'm done playing(and Wii also when I had one).

Wait. They are talkIng about actually being on and idle. I find it strange that that many people would walk away without turning them off.

Wait. They are talkIng about actually being on and idle. I find it strange that that many people would walk away without turning them off.

When I first got the slim 360 I would forget and leave it on for days cause it was so quiet. The older one with the rocket engine I never forgot to turn off.

I turned on auto off first thing, but I've been trained by having a computer that draws 1/3 of the juice of a microwave. Lol.