A new report from the Electric Power Research Institute analyzed the power consumption of the three most popular video game consoles – the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 – and the Wii was by far the most energy efficient, using one-sixth of the energy used by the other two.
The researchers played one hour of Madden NFL 11 on each system and recorded the energy consumed. The Wii used 13.7 watts, the Playstation used 84.8 watts and the Xbox used 87.9 watts. The reason for the huge disparity between the Wii and the other two is that the Playstation and Xbox boast much higher graphics quality and more powerful processors.
Over the course of a year in which the user uses the console a lot (5 hours, 45 minutes a day), the Wii consumes the energy equivalent to a fluorescent lamp, where the other two consume energy equivalent to a washing machine.
So, if you're looking to buy a new console and prefer energy efficiency over graphics quality, the Wii is obviously the best choice.
Authors: Val
