Microsoft has announced that Xbox consoles will be getting a new “carbon aware” power mode. The feature is currently rolling out to the Insider testing program and will soon be available to all Xbox owners.
The carbon aware mode optimizes updates and downloads to run at times when the local power grid is least reliant on fossil fuels. What this means is that the Xbox can use the most renewable energy to perform such tasks. Windows 11 updates also have this feature and are carbon aware as of 2022.
So long as the Xbox is connected to the internet and can access the regional carbon intensity data needed, it will be carbon aware by default. However, the optimizations can only work while the console is in Shutdown mode and not Sleep.
With the new update, Shutdown will be the default setting. Users can switch it to Sleep if they want, but the console will not be carbon aware at that point. Shutdown does mean that the console will take longer to boot up and the remote wake feature is not available. However, if the console is in Shutdown and not Sleep, it will still receive overnight updates and function the same.
Xbox One is also getting new power modes, including the new carbon aware one.
In case you still need some convincing, Microsoft did point out that every two consoles that switch from Sleep to Shutdown will save the equivalent amount of carbon replaced by one tree planted and grown from a decade.
If you still want to use Sleep, you can use a new Active Hours setting that will allow you to use Shutdown mode during periods of the day that you know you won’t be active on the console. During your activity hours, the console will remain on Sleep mode.
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