PSA: Now's Probably A Good Time To Use 'Energy Saver' Mode On Xbox Series X|S

I always try to keep my Series X in power saver mode, however if I'm downloading a large game or update I find myself having to switch to instant on so that the download continues while I'm not there. It's a shame there isn't a hybrid power mode that turns the power fully off in normal circumstances but switches it to instant on when downloading.

In energy saver mode does it still download updates? That’s probably my main reason for using “instant on”. I hate going to play a game only to find it needs a big update first.

I'm glad they changed Energy Saver to the default. I keep mine in that mode, and it's fine. The start up speed is more than fast enough.

@Nightcrawler71 Yes it does. https://www.purexbox.com/news/2022/03/xbox-adds-automatic-downloads-to-energy-saver-mode-on-series-xs

Though even if it didn't I'd rather save the money and put up with needing to have the occasional download still.

Wonder how much this saves a year?
When the world and big towns light up every night, sometimes needlessly for tens of hours and junk mail keeps coming through our doors.
Governments, they love just tickling at an issue instead of dealing with it head on and making a real impact.

Maybe it's just me, but £132 a year sounds like nothing compared to the amount at which the energy companies have been increasing the price.

I appreciate the sentiment, but it seems like "buy a new kettle", or "stop buying Starbucks" in it's actual effectiveness against the issue it's challenging.

@Richnj any regular computer just idling will consume far more energy than a shut down Xbox. An old non-LED lightbulb will as well.
This does nothing to tackle any issue besides saving some chump change over a year

I can't even remember choosing the settings for my series s, all I know is that I hold down the controller button then click on turn off console, but when I turn it back on a day or two later it starts me back off in the game where I turned it off

LOL. Now is a good time to increase production and build power plants.

@Carck
Why does a regular computer have to idle? Why does the Xbox have to idle? Why does anything have to idle? Multiply the 13 Watts by 16 million. It sums up.

Sure you can lift that financially, but to be honest, that's not even the important thing - even though, some outlets put their focus on it, for whatever reasons. It's about the domino effect that comes with needlessly wasting energy, not only for the world in general, but your own country/state/city/district, and in the end your household. I'm not only talking about the environmental impact, but also energy prices at large.

@lokozar i agree with you. But how about this: it's not my problem to solve. There are people in charge to make that change. Me unplugging my Xbox isn't going to make any difference (besides my wallet). It can only change at a legislation/infrastructure level, and there's little you and me can do about it.

These problems aren't going away while the very people responsible for solving them have an active interest on keeping everything as is.

@Carck
I disagree. It’s exactly this kind of thinking that prevents change from happening. You have to decide for yourself what kind of person you want to be. Do you want to be a person that shrugs over things and points fingers, like the person next to you, and the person next to them, and the person next to them, … so that there will be a nice viscous circle, where everyone thinks the others are responsible? Or do you want to be a person that does the right thing? Don’t you think that someone has to start somewhere? And don’t you think that if enough people do the reasonable thing, there could be at least slow change? After all, there is such a thing as leading by example, that is being picked up by others, like e.g. your children.

Besides, what do you propose a government should do about this? In the end, they could only forbid things, which in turn would spark resistance, just for resistance’s sake. And then again, why should one wait for the government instead of simply doing what is reasonable? It’s not that one would lose anything meaningful if they turned of electrical devices.

@lokozar unplugging your Xbox doesn’t make you a better person. And no, i am not responsible for the way people in charge rule.

You make me a few questions, i will tell you again the same thing: it’s not my job to figure it out. It’s legislators and infrastructure management’s job.

Again, i fully agree with you conceptually. I just don’t feel it’s our business to solve anything. Your honest attitude may enable them to shift blame instead of being held accountable for the mess they’re causing.

Again, unplugging an Xbox does nothing.
Cheers brother

Sounds like Energy Saver mode should be the default setting. The majority of people who own a modern Xbox aren't going to care enough to change the setting manually.

I think I changed it already? I'm from South America and the inflation is an all-time high in my country so this is good to know. I'll check again just in case.

@Carck
It actually does. Alongside other reasonable things I do or do not. Why? Because I decided to not be a part of the problem.

Politics is a reflection of the society. Politics tries to deliver what people want. If you show them you are okay with wasting stuff, they will deliver exactly that, a wasteful system. You want to see change? Then first you have to live the change.

Why my laptop or Series S or PS4 had to be in idle or stand by? I always completely switch them off completely when I do not use them! I switch them on I want to download a game or play something. It annoys me that the complete shutdown is hidden in the Series S options somewhere.

I've always get my Xbox/Playstation consoles in the 'energy' saver or full/complete shutdown modes and dealt with any updates etc as and when they crop up.

@Spaceman-Spiff - good thinking, I wish that was an option in the settings.

@lokozar "Multiply the 13 Watts by 16 million. It sums up."

I actually really disagree with this more.

We could all live using zero electricity. And we could all recycle absolutely everything. But you'd still have corporations burning fossil fuels and dumping waste in to our waters like they own the place.

Everything you have done is great, but we still ended up with an energy crisis and sewage water. The change needs to come from the top and to the way society is structured.

The products we use need to be sustainable in and of themselves, and not the way in which we use them.

@Richnj
I don’t get this thinking. Because companies waste and pollute, it is ok for us as individuals to waste and pollute? How does one wrong make another wrong right? How does adding even more sh*t on top of a sh*t pile make anything better?

@lokozar I'm saying that advocating for individuals to change, changes nothing.

Adding Sh*t to a sh*t pile doesn't change the fact that what you have in front of you is a sh*t pile. It doesn't make things better, but you're not making the sh*t pile go away either. You telling individuals to stop pooping there while massive lorries drive right past you isn't preventing the sh*t pile, it's just making it harder for individuals to find a place to go to the bathroom.

@Richnj @Aggirivator

That is shortsighted. Companies consist of individuals. Individuals carry their values into companies. Individuals create demand for companies. That's why we have something like unions. That's why we have outcries that go through the media and create pressure for companies and investors.

I don't know about your country, but I know for a fact, that companies in my country started to change because more and more their customers wanted to see said change. For example, here, for years now, energy companies switch to renewable energy sources, not because they have to, but because there is growing demand for it. The lawyer company my friend is working for is creating a low/green energy consumption and recycle program just to advertise this on their website. Why? Because they finally understood there is demand for this. When you have two comparable options the one with the extra perks has the better chances. And you know what? My friend was the one who suggested it in the first place, because she really cares about this stuff. It made sense to the bosses.

That's all because individuals changed their view on something. They didn't wait for politics or laws, they just decided that this one thing is important to them and that they want to see it spread in some way, shape, or form. Pointing to others while participating in the same BS doesn't make things better in the slightest. That's the easy, the lazy thing to do. It's fatal too. "Well, if they don't do it, I don't have to do it either. Because it doesn't make a difference!" Right? Wrong! Because if everyone thinks this way, no one will ever start, and nothing will ever change.

We're in this mess, because those that came before us used the exact same invalid arguments. You, as an individual, have a responsibility. You have responsibility for yourself, and for those around you (e.g. persons you like, your family, the future of your family etc.). You actually expect this responsibility from others too. You don't WANT them to waste or pollute and make everything more difficult for you, right? That they do it anyways is a totally different topic, though. Sure, there are enough a**holes out there and you might ask yourself, "Why should I be the one to cut back, while they waste away everything?"

Well, to this I say: It's not about them. It's about you!
Do YOU want to be an a**hole like them? Or do you want to be something different? Do you want to say: "In this regard, I am not to be blamed. I'm doing my part."? Or do you want to be part of a dull mass that just shoves responsibility around in a circle? Because, you know, here is the thing ... The person right next to you points at YOU and says: "... Well, if he/she doesn't do it, why should I? Makes no difference, right?"

@lokozar "For example, here, for years now, energy companies switch to renewable energy sources, not because they have to, but because there is growing demand for it"

Really?, you sure it had nothing to do with renewables becoming cheaper than fossil fuels this last decade?

Because here's the bottom line in this debate. If fossil fuels were still much cheaper than renewables, companies would still push that product harder, and your average person would probably pick it because it benefited them more. Not always out of pure selfishness, but because life is hard already, and sometimes they don't always have the luxury to half freeze to death for the sake of the planet.

We can definitely agree that convincing individuals that recycling and renewables are the best option, but getting them to put it in to practice on a personal level is hard and more or less pointless in comparison to changing the source of the problems.

Edit: renewable energy is actually a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It would be a lot more effective to force all energy companies over to renewable than it would to convince billions of people to turn off the electronics.

@Richnj
Yes, I am very sure, because renewables actually were a lot more expensive. Even for the consumers. I was one of them. I payed more, to show that there is a growing market for it, and that companies should expand on it.

The discussion wasn't about whether you can lift the extra cost. If you can't, you can't - simple as that. But do you know what everyone can do? Completely turn off a console!

Um gonna stick with instant on. My updates get done almost always when I'm not using my console. Plus I use the remote play feature a lot. I'm an electrician and I know what my console uses per year and it's not anything worth trying to save pennies over. Maybe PCs should have a power saving mode. I know my 800w power supply is pulling far more than an Xbox series x lol....If you're truly worried about resources (im not convinced), maybe try to get ppl to cut down on all their electronics. You wont see a dents worth from consoles being in energy saving mode. That's a fact.

I’ve been using energy saver since day 1 since I have no interest in streaming my games. I just also set auto-shutdown to 4 hours for when I’m downloading a big game (remember to turn the controller off as well).

Get solar. Problem solved.

@DeathByLasagna switch it to instant on for 3 months and turn off your console. see how much your bill decresses. Your running your console at full power instead of instant on's 13W's.

Here was me thinking it was my ps5 chewing the electric alot more than my series x...don't know why..prob cause it's so big and chunky lol

In today's world, the amount of power my game console uses is the least of my concerns.

I turn all my devices off when not in use. 🤷‍♂️

I turn all my consoles off fully after use, with fast fibre Internet there is no need at all for me to waste money and electricity

The Xbox Series X idling in instant-on mode uses more power than a Switch OLED playing Zelda BOTW.

Still a LOT less electricity than what any PC uses.

This thing isn't that powerful. If consoles are killing your electric bill, something's wrong with something. Funny article.

.....unless you use Remote Play....

This stuff is still hilarious though. We've replaced having durable goods designed to last people 20-30 years so they only use 2 in their entire lifetime with goods designed to last 1-6 years (including cars.) We've stopped making those goods in local regions and took them national, then stopped making them national and made them continental, then stopped making them continental and just made it all in China, designed for the shortest possible lifespan to continue the economic treadmill growing. Then we build technology around planned obsolescence, including consoles and GPUs to become irrelevant in a few years time and need to be constantly repurchased. We have offices where everyone is expected to commute back and forth twice a day every day, and we removed local shopping with half hour+ distance shopping areas, centralized so everyone goes back and forth from the same area at the same times. We not only have, but highly encourage travel where people use every kind of energy imaginable to go back and forth from everywhere to everywhere, instantly (carrying every known disease, and those unknown) from every place to every place within hours, for the pure fun of it, an economy that now expects this activity to simply function, and we celebrate a 10% a year air travel increase as we convert all the 4 lane highways to 6 lane highways wherever we can, and even where we can't.

But turn your Xbox off and help save the world! How about: tear down every office building, replace them with shopping at a nearly walkable distance everywhere, and end the idea of travel vacations and non-essential business travel....then we can talk about Xbox power save all you'd like.

@lokozar I hope you don't drive a car. Or use a cellphone. Or use anything other than candles or natural light sources... you can unplug all you want, but you need to unplug that ego.

**incoming novelization about how perfect you are but have to reaffirm to strangers online because... validation**

@VokDaWiibSlayer
I hope you don't argue this way in real life, because it makes you look a little foolish. Here is why. Turning off a console is easily done. Quit using something you need to get from A to B or you need for work/family/friends/etc. not so much. Needed vs not needed. Do you see the difference?

I can already hear your next invalid point: "You don't need a car or a phone!" Which is why I don't have a car. But I'm ok with people having a car who need it. I am using a cellphone over any computer, because I can do almost everything with it at a lower energy consumption - even work related stuff. And yes, I am turning it off whenever I am certain I don't need it.

While not perfect by a long shot, I am actually trying to be a better person than others. Which is a good thing in general. I sincerely recommend trying it. So, no, my "ego" will stay firmly plugged in. Sorry, not sorry ...

@lokozar you hope I don't use relevant points to demonstrate inadequacy in narcissistic behavior? Well of course, it's effective against those of your detriment.

All jokes aside I encourage all to actively be a better person. That's not the issue i currently have with you. We should all thrive to be the best we can be and hold ourselves accountable for our actions. I actually agree with a lot of what you said, just not with how you go about saying it. The issue I have is that you're online making it as if you deserve some reward because, in your head, no one is "as good" as you are at energy conservation. LOL! You want recognition because you've done something you should be doing but have deduced no one else does. I'm sure you've done no control group to determine this either. All the while you lack in other areas within the same perameters and shrug it off. Ummm... Hypocrite!? Now sure, I could rattle off the fact that every time my wife and I leave a beach we remove far more trash than we ever bring. I could rattle off every conservative effort I've ever made in my life. I can make it out like it's all some grand display that elevates me above others. But that would cheapen my actions when all I have to do is demonstrate this action to my circle in a positive and reaffirming manner and thus usher in and spread the good deed and encourage growth because it's the right thing to do as opposed to superficially inflating my ego. They then encorporate this into their lives and repeat the cycle. I have been quite successful in getting my group to cut the plastic rings from 6 packs and removing trash from public areas we frequent just by watching me do it. By contrast look at your engagement in this thread. Not one mind was changed by your ego, and the fact that you see no room for improvement lends to my assessment that you are indeed a narcissist with a superiority complex rather than someone actively trying to do good. After all, a good deed for the wrong reason isn't a good deed.

You're not wrong in doing the right thing, I'm not making that claim at all. I'm just saying with your anime avatar and elitism you come off more as an incel than someone trying to encourage others to do better. If you softened up on the douchey stuff people would be more inclined to actually hear the truth you speak as opposed to being repulsed by your elitist attitude. Take or leave the constructive criticism. At the end of the day you're on an Xbox site typing a on a phone arguing about how much better YOU perceive yourself to be over a bunch of strangers. If you were indeed better you wouldn't need the validation.

@VokDaWiibSlayer
I don't do the right things to get a reward. That would be silly. I don't need recognition. Especially not from anyone in the internet. I think you don't know what a hypocrite actually is. I don't assume you are a polluter, waster or do nothing to save the environment. Never said that one time. I only answered to statements that supported doing nothing and further everyone's demise. It's not my fault you want to play the devil's advocate or whatever stunt you tried to pull there ...

Now - with this out of the way - as I have already shown you, your point wasn't relevant. I won't roll this up again. You can read it up. I really do not care whether you have a problem with my posture or not. I am fully aware of how I am being perceived by others. Again, I do not care, because I do not like humans - most of them, that is. I am a misanthrope. I do not want to belong to the dull masses and I am showing it - yes!

Make of this whatever you will. It doesn't change the fact that I am correct, as you yourself have stated in your last comment. Speaking out against someone who is right, just because your stomach doesn't agree with the fashion they transport the message is petty and just another thing I don't like about humans. I do not like you. You do not like me. Let's just leave it at that. I'm very fine with this arrangement.

@lokozar ahh yes, always aim to do better until you're met with the opportunity to do better. You can assemble words together that you think drives your point but I leave this convo as the rest of them before me. You've done nothing but concrete my words. Thanks.

@lokozar Given recent news, I have concluded you are right. I am going to turn off my xbox so that it offsets Liz Truss unbanning fracking.

@NEStalgia "But turn your Xbox off and help save the world! How about: tear down every office building, replace them with shopping at a nearly walkable distance everywhere, and end the idea of travel vacations and non-essential business travel....then we can talk about Xbox power save all you'd like. "

I love this.