The NRDC has released some numbers about video game consoles and their power consumption. If you’re one of the 50% of gamers who leave their consoles on all the time — you’re wasting a lot of money.

The NRDC report suggests that video game console manufacturers update the consoles with a power saving mode that would kick in after a period of inactivity — but the quickest fix is for gamers to turn their consoles off (or use the console’s power saving features) when they’re not actively playing them. The NRDC says that consoles use about the same amount of power just sitting there as they do when you’re actually playing them.

How much could you save? At the high end, the NRDC says that PS3 owners who shut off their consoles could save as much as $145 a year. Wii users won’t save as much, because the Wii uses less power over all. The XBOX 360 is somewhere in between.

The good news is that the XBOX 360 and PS3 do have power saving features, but they’re disabled by default. Why not turn them on and save some cash?

Lowering the Cost of Play [NRDC]

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