Energy Star Game Console Spec to Take Effect in Three Stages
The EPA released a final draft Energy Star specification for game consoles that takes effect in three stages. The agency had separated consoles from the development process for Energy Star version 5.0 specification for computers because it hadn’t completed work on consoles (CED Oct 6 p5). The level of energy use by consoles has also drawn attention on Capitol Hill. A bill by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., would require the Department of Energy to weigh energy limits on consoles after a study.
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The specification will take effect in three phases starting in July 2010. The second and third tiers become effective in July 2011 and July 2012, the EPA said. The levels in the later tiers were set anticipating “potential developments in game console technology resulting from transfer of approaches in related technologies,” said Katharine Kaplan, Energy Star CE product manager, in a letter to stakeholders. The specification has power management requirements that would need a game in progress to be “automatically saved after a period of inactivity to allow for auto power down to sleep mode,” she said. It specifies that the console return the user to the same place in the game when restarting from sleep mode, she said.
Also in the spec are requirements for phased reduction of power used in “secondary functionalities” such as movie, music and other media playback, Internet access and video content access similar to that provided by a set-top box. The first tier places a 2-watt sleep mode limit on consoles that are enabled by Wake-On-LAN (WOL) and whose functions aren’t “engaged.” WOL is an ethernet standard that allows a computer to be woken up by a network message. The sleep limit for consoles with their functions on is 10 watts. The auto power down requirement for the tier specifies that the console in “any state other than Game Play, Game Pause, Game Play Idle, or Media play must auto-power down within one hour of user inactivity.” Consoles must be shipped with these setting enabled by default.
The second and third tiers tighten the sleep mode limit for WOL-enabled devices with functions not engaged to 1 watts and those with functions on to 5 watts. Tier two places a “system idle” limit of 45 watts that moves to 25 watts in the third tier. When used as a set-top box the console should come within 10 percent of the requirements in tier two of the version 2.0 Energy Star specification for set-top boxes “when not in game play,” the requirements for tier two and three specify. In addition to the auto power down requirements in tier one, the console must, after a “wake event,” power down immediately after performing system maintenance and download or set-top box functions to meet tier two and three requirements.
The deadline for comments is Nov. 6. The EPA will release the final specification Nov. 24, Kaplan said.