While it's easy to focus on things like exclusives or hardware specs when looking at consoles, there are a couple of ways platforms like PlayStation and Xbox may surprise you regarding initiatives focused around their latest offerings.

For the Xbox Series X|S, one of the pushes from Microsoft is to shift Xbox to a more environmentally-friendly stance. This move involves the Xbox Series X|S console itself, how it works, and how Xbox itself manages its internal processes, like production and policies.

But how exactly does the Xbox Series X|S represent environmentally-friendly console gaming? Let's find out.

1. The Xbox Series X|S Consoles Utilize Energy-Saving Power Modes

One way your Xbox Series X|S itself provides environmentally-friendly console gaming is through its energy-saving power mode.

With Xbox allowing you to customize your power settings on Xbox Series X|S, they also increased the availability to save energy. This energy-saving power mode fine-tunes your console and its ways of managing numerous features when it comes to energy consumption in the following ways:

• Allowing your Xbox Series X|S to completely shut down instead of sleeping.
• Supporting energy-friendly automatic updates.
• Lowering your overall power consumption by 20x while your Series X|S is off.

All in all, these factors come together to save you money on energy and bring down your household's energy consumption and, more specifically, the amount of energy your Xbox Series X|S uses.

In turn, through an eco-orientated power mode for your Xbox Series X|S, you lower your Xbox energy usage and produce a more environmentally friendly console experience. And through this, your Xbox will require less energy to maintain your gaming experience, helping you save money while lowering your environmental impact.

2. The Xbox Series S Is the First PCR-Resin-Produced Console

Aside from internal software or power modes, the actual physical composition of your Xbox may also promote environmentally friendly representation. If you own an Xbox Series S, you own the first console to utilize PCR-resin in its internal and external design.

PCR resin, or post-consumer recycled resin, is a substance created from recycled plastic from materials like water or beverage bottles. These resources are then re-processed to produce plastic pellets for manufacturing.

In the case of the Xbox Series S, PCR resin is utilized in manufacturing the console's shell and several internal components. And not only that but both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have also achieved a 97% recyclability score by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This P2. Recyclability of Products score from OECD means that you can recycle 97% of the materials used for making the Xbox Series X|S in future products. This makes the Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S highly recyclable, helping them to stay out of electronic waste landfills.

So while the Xbox Series S' use of PCR-resins makes it an environmentally-friendly gaming console, the Xbox Series X is not far behind it because you can recycle most of the console if and when it reaches the end of its life.

3. Carbon-Friendly Updates for Xbox Series X|S Lower Your Carbon Footprint

A universal aspect of your Xbox Series X|S that helps to lower your own carbon footprint is the implementation of automatic and carbon-friendly updates for your games, apps, and even the Xbox Series X|S console itself.

As Xbox Wire announced for the Xbox Series X|S February 2023 update, the latest Xbox consoles will prioritize updating its operating system, your games, and other installed apps when there is less energy demand in your respective electric grids. That means it will work on these updates during off-peak or maintenance periods.

This move places less of a burden on your energy supplier, especially considering that Xbox has sold over 18.5 million consoles, according to a report by Ampere Analysis. Furthermore, it helps save money as many electricity suppliers offer lower rates during off-peak or maintenance hours. Xbox also highlights these periods as utilizing low-carbon energy sources for your electricity supply.

So not only does the new feature prioritize periods that utilize lower sources of carbon-based energy, but it also happens to coincide with times that may save you money on energy altogether, with off-peak rates in effect if your supplier supports them.

As an example of Xbox providing an environmentally friendly gaming experience, low-carbon orientated updates offer a way you can lower your carbon footprint and potentially save yourself money on energy.

4. Xbox as a Company Is Dedicated to Sustainability

On top of your Xbox Series X|S and its features, Microsoft, and by extension Xbox, has laid out a dedicated plan for sustainability that helps ensure your console gaming with Xbox has environmentally-friendly practices and goals.

Specifically, Xbox outlines its key sustainability goals in a few key points that help to push these practices on numerous aspects of its platform. These key points are as follows:

• Reducing its carbon footprint so that Xbox can become carbon negative by 2030.
• To match the goal set by Microsoft to be a zero waste company by 2030.
• To include fans, organizations, developers, and the industry in its mission to reduce gaming's environmental impact.

And while these may seem like arbitrary goals, Xbox has released sustainability-focused system updates for its Xbox Series X|S consoles, whether through eco-power settings or carbon-reducing automatic updates. So there is cause for you to believe in Xbox and its desire for sustainable gaming.

And further to this, Xbox also implements in-depth and highly useful ways of managing your privacy and online safety on Xbox Series X|S. So, in terms of unifying the relationship between Xbox and its player base, Xbox has plenty of experience doing so, making its sustainability claims even more exciting.

5. Xbox Controllers Use Recycled Materials

Similarly to your Xbox Series X|S consoles, Xbox provides you with an environmentally-friendly console gaming experience by producing its Xbox Wireless Controllers and Xbox Design Lab controllers.

Much like the Xbox Series S console, Xbox Wireless Controllers incorporate 30% PRC resins into their external housing and 50% in their internal components. While this only started with the Daystrike Camo and Electric Volt controllers, it makes sense for Xbox to use PCR materials in future designs.

So, even just by owning Xbox Wireless Controllers, you already support sustainable and environmentally-friendly gaming. Furthermore, Xbox Design Lab controllers feature 15 customizable colors for their outer shells, which further incorporate PCR resins.

This could even act as an incentive for you to design your controller through the Xbox Design Lab. But if you can't think of any cool designs right now, check out our list of cool Xbox Design Lab controller design ideas. With this, you get a controller uniquely designed to your taste while supporting Xbox's sustainability goals.

Promote Sustainable and Environmentally-Friendly Gaming With the Xbox Series X|S

Because of the sustainable production of Xbox Series X|S consoles, low carbon-energy consumption, and other policies, you're helping to represent environmentally friendly practices by gaming with Xbox. And as Microsoft continues to push for a sustainable future, you may even find Xbox continuing to make its platform even more sustainable.

But even aside from sustainability, Xbox provides you with other support with things like healthy gaming, so you can cater to your gaming requirements and continue to represent environmentally friendly practices all at once.