Here’s another reason to love your Wii – as far as game consoles go, it’s the most energy efficient of the current generation. As determined by the US Natural Resources Defense Council the Wii uses on average around six times less electricity than the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 when turned on. In fact, it even uses a little less power than the Gamecube !
photo credit: cursedthing

Nintendo’s engineers deserve credit for creating a more environmentally responsible console. Sure the PS3 and Xbox fanboys will never tire of highlighting that the graphics capabilities of their consoles is superior; but it all comes at a cost – a higher carbon footprint (around two refrigerators worth) and a higher electricity bill for every hour of play.

Keep in mind, however, just because the Wii is the best on energy efficiency, every console manufacturer has room to improve …Greenpeace rated the Wii least environmentally friendly compared with Sony and Microsofts offerings, due to the levels of toxic materials in the Wii and Nintendos lack of recycling policy.

Here’s my “environmentally friendly gaming tip” for the day (maybe for the year): help reduce waste and buy secondhand games. Don’t encourage production of more copies of Red Steel or Ninjabread Man “landfill”.

(see also: The power consumption breakdown at Nintendo Wii Fanboy)