Microsoft has released an update on its efforts to make Xbox consoles a little greener, with two energy-saving initiatives — one focused on the console’s power modes and the other helping developers write more energy-efficient code — estimated to have prevented more than 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over three years. (CO2e is an overall measure of all greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide.)
These emissions are equivalent to 3 billion miles in an average gasoline-powered car, or 1 billion miles per year. In other words, that’s the total average annual mileage about 74,000 American drivers. This could be a drop in the ocean when it comes to fighting climate change — global CO2e emissions are expected to reach 2022 53.8 billion tonsthat’s the equivalent of 134 trillion miles driven — but still not a bad saving compared to video game encoding tools and console software updates.
IN Post on Xbox WireXbox’s Chief Sustainability Officer Trista Patterson explained that the energy-saving initiatives are part of Microsoft’s broader program to become a carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste company by 2030 (a program it has admitted has been seriously threatened by Microsoft’s push for artificial intelligence). Patterson detailed two pillars of the plan: the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit for developers and carbon-aware downloads and power-saving modes for Xbox consoles.
This Sustainability ToolkitUnveiled at Game Developers Conference 2023, it helps developers improve code efficiency to reduce energy consumption by identifying “power bugs” and has been used in major titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 AND War zone. It has benefits that extend beyond Xbox consoles, as improvements in the code often extend to other platforms on which games run.
In 2023, meanwhile, Microsoft rolled out a “carbon aware” setting for Xbox consoles that optimizes updates and downloads to run during times when the local power grid is least reliant on fossil fuels. More importantly, it rolled out an update to all Xbox consoles that made Shutdown the default shutdown setting instead of Sleep. Shutdown uses significantly less power and starts up more slowly, but the console can still receive updates and downloads in that state.
