A new update pushing to Xbox Insider today will help console owners reduce their carbon footprint while their consoles are powered off or performing scheduled updates and maintenance. It aims to make it possible.
Announced in an Xbox Wire post, Xbox Insiders’ Xbox Series X and S consoles will automatically update to the “Shutdown (Energy Saving)” power option. According to Microsoft, this update reduces power usage by up to 20x while the console is turned off, without impacting performance. “Remote Wake” is not available while an Xbox in this setting is powered off, but all other remote functions are available when the console is on.
In this mode, Xbox consoles that are powered on and connected to the internet will also use available regional carbon intensity data to generate periodic energy savings during times when more renewable energy is available on the grid. Schedule maintenance and other updates. For Windows users, this feature is What was deployed in Windows 11 last year.
A similar feature is rolling out to Xbox One owners, but opening Shutdown (Energy Saving) will likely slow down boot times on older systems.
Finally, Xbox Insiders will also now see a new “Active Hours” setting. This allows you to choose when the console will start quickly and be available for remote wake. Outside of that window, the Xbox will automatically shut down otherwise. use. Series X and S owners will have active hours enabled automatically once this update is rolled out based on previous usage hours, while Xbox One owners will have to wait until manually adjusted. Defaults to “always active”.
For now, these features are only available to Xbox Insiders, but Microsoft promises to make the features available to all other console owners at a later date.
Microsoft joined the Playing for the Planet Alliance in 2019 and has continued to move towards carbon neutrality over the past several years. Pledge to be carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. you can find her on her twitter @duck valentine.
