You could celebrate Earth Day by recycling your back issues of Next Generation or vowing to never drink bottled water again, or you could do something easier and simply turn off your gaming rig when you're done using it.
It seems like a no-brainer, but gamers seem to have a distinct aversion to turning off their gaming rig of choice. Current estimates put the cost of standby power at $4 billion each year, reports 1Up. Turning off your PC or console when you're not using it is an easy way to make your gaming a bit greener, save some cash, and perhaps extend the life of your equipment, too.
If you can't bring yourself to turn your PC off completely, you could at least use its sleep function. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that using Windows Vista's sleep function can reduce your PC's energy consumption by as much as 95 percent. (Of course, you'd also be using Vista, so perform your own cost/benefit analysis on that one.)
For those times when you're not actually playing, but turning off the console isn't a practical option -- perhaps you're downloading a PlayStation 3 firmware update or taking a break from some Halo 3 multiplayer action -- you can at least turn off your TV or monitor.
There are plenty of other ways you can make your gaming a little greener. Switching to rechargeable batteries for your Wii Remotes will keep those double A's out of a landfill, and if you're done with your GameBoy SP or Nintendo DS Phat, consider donating it to a children's organization instead of simply leaving it in a junk drawer or throwing it away.
If you have more suggestions for ways to be a greener gamer, please feel free to share them.
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Photo: Marcin Wichary/Flickr*
Gaming Green[1Up]
