games: Greener Gaming
Now I try to lead a fairly green lifestyle and one thing that I’ve often felt guilty about was having a hobby, and now a job that guzzles power. It leaves me quite torn, as obviously I don’t want to give up gaming or encourage anyone else to either, but at the same time green issues are some of the most important concerns we as a race are facing as we can’t exactly press restart on the planet. So I’ve thought about this for a while and adopted a number of new habits to help reduce the impact of my gaming on the environment. And with inflation, credit crunch and rising oil prices hitting us all hard, these tips on greener gaming will help you save money too.
Turn stuff off:
This might sound obvious, but if we’re honest how many of us leave our consoles or PCs on while we go off to take a break? It seems like a great convenience to be able to just pick up again straight away, but you’re only really saving yourself a minute or two at best. If you’re stopping for more than 5 to 10 minutes it’s worth finding a save point and shutting down, or if you’re on a PC or Mac, at least putting it to sleep.
Really turn stuff off:
Standby functions on your TV and PS3 continue to use electricity, so make sure you turn them off fully. At the end of 2007 devices left on stand-by accounted for around 8% of domestic energy consumption. With TVs like a Samsung which only have a standby mode, it’s worth making the extra effort to turn it off at the plug, or if that’s incovenient then check out Bye Bye Standby, a device which lets you turn items on and off at the plug by remote control.
Consider your peripherals:
Obviously when you’re gaming you want to view your screen in all it’s glory, but if you’re leaving something to download or install while you’re off doing something else, then think about turning off the TV or monitor, or turning down the screen brightness on a laptop. When buying equipment, bear in mind that LCD screens use less power than CRT ones. And if you’re too lazy to turn all of your computer peripherals on and off when you use them, then consider a smart strip from BITS which will do it for you when you turn your computer on and off.
Trade in your old stuff and buy second hand:
Unless you want a game on the day of release or a special collectors edition, there’s really no reason not to buy second hand games where you can. High street game retailers like Game Station won’t accept scratched discs and if you do get a game home and can’t play it, they’re really good about swapping it for you with no hassle. Check the return policies of independent retailers before you buy, but in my experience they want to keep your custom so are happy to keep you happy, and i’ve never had a return questioned.
The same goes for consoles and peripherals. As well as saving yourself quite a bit of money, by trading in your unwanted games and consoles and/or buying second hand you’re reducing the number of products that need to be made and shipped. Swapping or loaning games amongst friends is also a good way to reduce impact in this area.
Batteries:
Bit of an obvious one, but make sure you have rechargeable batteries in your controllers and TV remote. You can buy good charger and battery packs for under £20 and this will very quickly save you money if you go through them at the rate I do.
Disposing of dead or unwanted electronics:
If you have unwanted electronic goods you can’t sell or give away, please don’t just throw it out. Using something like freecycle.org or small ads in your local paper, you might find someone who can use it anyway for parts or as a prop. There are also many organizations now who specialize in recycling electrical and electronic goods, who will safely remove any data and either refurb the item or reuse or recycle the parts. Big manufacturers are getting in on the act and Dell have a free recycling programme for Home and home Office users, ask your local council or search the web for what else is available near you.
Consider offsetting:
This requires a bit more dedication, but if you know you are a heavy gamer with hardcore power guzzling kit, then consider offsetting your carbon emissions by cutting down your environmental impact in other areas of your life. Consider walking or car-pooling to work, or maybe switch to buying locally sourced food.
There you go, seven easy ways we can all help do our bit for the environment and save ourselves a bit of cash to boot.
Neither PSU nor cable nor wall socket nor fuses would survive this. Powering down the PC doesn’t cause a spike as big as starting it anyway, so I won’t bother to do even simplest math.
Katharine,
That was an awesome episode, great tips and it is wonderful to see a game that shows it is possible to care about the environment and still be a gamer.
You and the rest of the ChannelFlip team do a wonderful job, thanks for the hard work,
Jeffrey