Game consoles may not consume as much energy compared to other devices in the house, but you can still save quite a bit of energy. That also applies to the PC. Below are some of the best ways to do this, while we also advise you to use a energy comparison website, or energievergelijker in Dutch, to save more money on your energy bill.
PC
For PC users, there are many types of hardware and variables and we’ll keep the tips a bit more general. For example, disconnect as many devices as possible when you’re not using them, so they don’t draw power unnecessarily. But also check the options for saving energy on your operating system. Windows users can head to the Settings app > System > Power & Sleep. Here you set when the system and the screen turn off. Are you going away from home for a while? Then unplug the computer; that way you can be sure it’s off. MacOS users can do this by going to System Preferences > Energy Saver. One last general tip for laptop users: only use the charger when you are actually charging the laptop.
Xbox
When the Xbox Series X and Series S are plugged in and turned on for the first time, they operate in Standby mode by default. That means the Xbox is on standby, downloading games and updates in the background. The console can also stream games to your smartphone. This also means that the device consumes more power: ten to thirteen watts. That’s a lot more compared to the power saving mode: 0.4 to 0.5 watts. During gaming, the Series X consumes 153 watts, compared to 74 watts on the Series S. Reason enough to take a look at the settings related to energy saving. Open the Settings application and press General in the menu on the left. At the bottom right is now Energy mode and startup. In the middle row you choose the mode of your choice: Standby or Energy saving. Keep in mind that the second option disables game updating and streaming, but you choose the most environmentally friendly and energy-saving option.
PlayStation
Whether you have a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, it does not matter for the energy savings. Saving energy is done in the same way on both consoles. Open the Settings and select the System option. On the PlayStation 5, you can now search for Energy Saving in the menu on the left. On the PlayStation 4, go to Settings and then Power Saving Settings. By default, the PlayStation 5 is set to shut down after twenty minutes of absence from gaming. He also goes out after four hours of media streaming. With the top option in the screen you determine the time units. The second option, Functions Available in Rest Mode, is also interesting to look through. Here you set that the console charges the controllers in standby mode (or not) via the USB ports, and whether the game console is allowed to connect to the internet. If you don’t want the PlayStation 5 to connect to the internet in rest mode, it can’t download games or updates either.