Why will the Xbox shut down instead of going to sleep now?
Reducing our carbon footprint has been at the heart of many people’s concerns in recent years. But as the climate debate heats up, more and more companies are racing to become carbon neutral.
Microsoft’s Xbox consoles are now the first consoles to be carbon neutral. As Microsoft strives to become a carbon-neutral, water-positive and waste-free company by 2030, it makes sense to roll out sustainability updates in entertainment, one of the company’s core sectors.
Xbox gets carbon-friendly updates
Members of the Xbox Insider Program now have access to new changes that can help their consoles reduce their environmental impact. Joining the Xbox Insider Program is easy, and once you do, the update includes two new settings. These are designed to help reduce your carbon footprint and potentially lower your energy costs.
1. Automatic shutdown
The first of these new updates is the auto-off option. While it’s currently only available to Xbox Insiders, the update will soon roll out to all Xbox users, allowing everyone to do their part to save power.
The new auto-shutdown not only won’t affect your console’s performance, but can reduce power consumption by up to 20 times compared to sleep mode.
If you’re signed up for the Xbox Insider program, you may have noticed that the power saving option is already enabled. But if you don’t want to be a green warrior while pretending to be a real warrior in the game you’re playing on Xbox, there are a few settings you can tweak. You can also go back to standby mode if you want.
Just open it Parameters then click General. You will see from here Power options. Here you can go back to sleep mode or even change the settings a bit to push your power saving options a bit further.
It’s worth noting that while sleep mode can boot up the Xbox slightly faster, the Xbox Series X|S uses better NVMe SSDs, both of which offer faster performance, which naturally speeds up the boot times of the two consoles. . In short, the time you’ll save by turning on the console is hardly worth using sleep mode compared to the new power saving mode.
2. Carbon aware downloads
The new update doesn’t just shut down your Xbox when you’re not using it; Microsoft also changed how downloads work, making the console the first to offer carbon-aware downloads. As your device connects to the internet, it can detect carbon intensity data for your area, allowing the console to decide when to download updates.
By collecting carbon intensity data, Xbox will update games, apps, and the operating system only when your region will use more renewable energy.
For now, carbon-aware downloads only work for Xbox Insiders who keep the power-saving shutdown option enabled. But Microsoft will soon roll out an update to all Xbox customers so everyone can reduce their carbon footprint.
Why does Xbox choose to go to sleep?
The shutdown option is more energy efficient than the sleep mode. Microsoft claims it uses 20 times less power than the sleep option, so it’s the preferred option.
Xbox and Xbox Series X|S will continue to receive overnight system updates, as well as game and software downloads, while Shutdown is enabled. All players are encouraged to explore new power settings so everyone can step up to make a real impact.
In Microsoft’s Carbon Consideration announcement, Blaine Hauglie (Technical Program Manager) writes:
For example, for two consoles that go into shutdown mode (energy saving) in one year, we will save the same amount of carbon emitted by a tree planted and cultivated in ten years.
Carbon Awareness Update Coming Soon to Everyone
All Xbox users (Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S) will soon be able to choose the most energy-efficient power settings as Xbox Insiders experience the latest Xbox Carbon update for the first time.
This initiative is a big step towards reducing the game industry’s environmental impact, and Microsoft hopes that developers and studios, as well as gamers, will work together to achieve this.
