Xbox has announced a raft of new sustainability goals, as Microsoft attempts to make the Xbox eco-system a more environmentally friendly one. One of the biggest changes for us as end users, is that the Energy Saver mode on Xbox Series X|S now supports background downloads.
In an effort to make the power saving mode more appealing, Xbox has worked away to make auto system and game updates work there. Energy Saver mode consumes about 20 times less power than Instant On, and it now seems like a no-brainer to use it.
Elsewhere, the little Xbox Series S is doing its bit to help the planet. Late last year, Microsoft began to use recycled materials in its production of the digital-only console, and those materials now make up a minimum of 28% of the system's components.
Looking at the bigger picture, Microsoft has committed to being "carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030." Within that timeframe, the company will design Xbox products to be 100% recyclable in "Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries."
The changes made to Energy Saver mode are certainly welcome. We've used that mode since owning a Series X because, well, the console boots up so fast we didn't feel the need to rock Instant On. Now, there's even less reason to use the more power hungry mode.
Will you be switching to Energy Saver mode with this new feature? Let us know in the comments.
[source news.xbox.com]
Comments 25
Cool! I prefer to use Energy Saver mode so this really benefits me!!
There's this article that got pushed out a few months back that stated the xbox consoles were the worst as far as sustainability goes. I'm glad to see they've legitimately been working on it and have the results to show for it.
Fantastic news. Save the planet and save our wallets!
I will be switching to this mode, the Series consoles boot up really quickly anyway.
On an Xbox One/S/X it would be a harder sell as the boot times are annoying, I'm sure lots of people would stick with instant on.
Ahem… ‘fewer reasons’. Yes, today, I’m that guy.
Gonna switch this on when I get home. I’m nervous it will make something not work, but no reason not to give it a go for a couple of weeks.
I think this is basically how we use the Nintendo Switch, anyway.
I wonder if there's a setting we have to toggle. I always use Energy Saver mode cuz I don't really need my system on standby all the time. I realized the system never really shut off completely when my Series S first booted up with a different dash build.
I use the energy saver mode because Series X boots up immediately and download games and updates while I'm playing another game but this will be useful, especially for people with slow internet.
This is great news! Downloads and updates were the only reason I didn’t have it on to begin with.
Making the switch later after seeing this article.
Does this actually work now?
Or do we need another update after the most recent one this week.
Booted up my Series X today and noticed all my games were up to date. I immediately checked if I accidentally put it in Instant-On but no, still Energy Saver. This clears things up! Great news.
@Dezzy70 Pretty sure it works right now given my experience.
Nice. With the cost of electricity skyrocketing I'll switch to this mode as a bit of low hanging fruit power saving.
So this means that even when you fully turn off Xbox, it still downloads in the background? Is there additional setting we have to turn on for this?
@Roqka
Thank you will give it a try.
Just had my new energy cost bill from April 1st 2022 onwards, new higher tariff for UK.
Gone up about £50 per month.
That’s a video game each month what a downer.
@Dezzy70 I feel you. I used to have mine on Instant-On but since the electricity bill has skyrocketed here, too, I decided to switch over to Energy Saver.
Interestingly, I put GotG on queue from the app the other day and was surprised it had also already finished downloading when I turned on my Xbox today.
Great news, I've mainly used Energy Saver but if I've got a big download overnight then I switch to Instant On and back to Energy Saver after the download.
Well done silly Microsoft
Because you have messed around with the power on modes.
In both modes now for some reason HDMI SWITCHING seems not to be working.
So the tv does not switch to the right channel when the Xbox series x is turned on like it used to.
What happened to the testing and quality department.
Got the HDMI SWITCHING to work.
Basically turn it off HDMI-CEC.
console then automatically resets.
Then turned it back on HDMI-CEC.
console then automatically resets.
HDMI SWITCHING now works and also
In Energy Saver mode.
Noob question, here : what do you all means by "Energy Saver Mode" ? Is it when we fully turn off the console, by going to the option menu and selecting the full turn off ?
Because that's what I do everytime, except when I have a game to download at night.
@Bobobiwan You can turn the console off holding the Xbox button down on the controller and selecting turn off console, that's what I do. In the settings menu, you can select the default mode, either energy saver or standby. When you press the console button or hold down the Xbox button on the controller, the console will do what you selected in settings.
How do you actually turn it off then?
I've always had it set to instant on, gunna change it to energy saving and see how it goes.
@Jango-Forest Perform a “full shutdown” from the settings menu (general -> power mode & startup).
Superb. The background downloads were the only reason I ever used the standby mode.
About time
A bit odd that it wasn't there from the start to be honest
My system has been set to standby w/ "keep my app and games up-to-date" checked since day one, yet I still have to manually move game & app updates to the download queue. 🤨
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