If you’re looking for a simple, easy-to-read how-to guide, check out Space Ape’s Steps to Becoming Carbon Neutral.

In addition to a full plan template, Stripe’s Carbon-Neutral Journey includes a framework for how to prioritize carbon offset options.

UKIE’s Green Games Guide has a robust breakdown of our industry’s impact on the environment - and opportunities for us to reduce our footprint.

The Greening the Beast project has a comprehensive breakdown of how to choose PC components, displays, and settings.

The Microsoft Emissions Impact Dashboard can help track and reduce your company’s cloud-related carbon emissions.

The Albert Toolkit includes a carbon calculator and Action Plan (they have a sustainable production certification too!)

In 2018, the researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded that “video gaming is among the very most intensive uses of electricity in homes”. They also found a huge range in how much energy different gaming systems use—anywhere from 5 kWh per year (very little) to 1200 kWh per year (equivalent to leaving a 60-watt lightbulb on for more than two years straight).

[Read Full Reports by Evan Mills et al, 2018]

“Since the PlayStation 4’s release in 2013, approximately 8.9 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide have been generated and subsequently released into the atmosphere. That’s more than all of Jamaica’s emissions in 2017. All for one little video game console.”

[Read Full Article by Lewis Gordon, Dec 2019]

“There are many ways video game development impacts the climate crisis. As environmental breakdown intensifies, the games industry needs to ask itself tough questions.”

[Read Full Article by Lewis Gordon, May 2020]

Jackson Ryan conducted an examination of 9th-generation consoles (Series S, X, and PS5) and compared them with their predecessors based on kilowatt-hours over an hour of playtime. Previous research has shown huge variability in energy use across titles - and he confirms this is still the case in the 9th generation.

[Read Full Article by Jackson Ryan, Dec 2020]

Though very much in its infancy (with many technical design challenges to work out), intermittent computing is an emerging field of computer science and engineering that posits we could eventually ditch environmentally damaging batteries completely, and in favor of novel energy harvesting techniques.

[Read Full Article by Jackson Ryan, Sep 2020]

“While Microsoft’s new Xbox is capable of drawing less than 1 watt with its “energy saving” setting selected, they ship their units with “instant on” highlighted instead (note this only saves the user 5 to 10 seconds when they restart their console).

NRDC modeling shows this could result in the equivalent of one large (500 MW) coal-burning power plant’s worth of annual electricity generation and cost new U.S. Xbox owners more than $500 million on their electricity bills over the next five years.”

[Read Full Article by Noah Horowitz, Jan 2021]

At present, most data centers hosting high-power gaming servers require substantial ventilation and air conditioning. While data center efficiency continues to improve, increased throughput is largely offsetting these gains. The efficiency of server- and client-side hardware components (and their turnover rate) matter.

[Read Full Article by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2018]

In a study conducted by Lancaster University in England, researchers modeled the environmental impact of cloud gaming by 2030 under 3 different scenarios. Assuming streaming becomes the norm, it may cause a 112% increase in carbon emissions of gaming - even worse if 4K resolution becomes widespread. Whether or not cloud gaming will actually harm the environment depends on what kind of energy we’re using to power it.

[Read Full Article by Nicole Carpenter, Oct 2020]

A lifecycle assessment (LCA) by the University of Surrey reveals that, on average, download is the lowest carbon method of gaming at 0.047kg CO2/hour, followed by disc at 0.055kgCO2/hour. Cloud game streaming emits an estimated 0.149kg of CO2/hour, largely due to Internet, gaming servers, and home router equipment.

However, this can vary considerably depending on how long the game is played for: streaming can have lower comparable emissions for games if played under 8 hours.

[Read Full Paper by Joshua Aslan, Nov 2020]

“All of these new consoles make it extremely easy and convenient to stream video from preloaded apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, which can significantly increase the console’s hours of use and energy use. While streaming videos, these consoles can draw 10 to 25 times more electricity than using streaming devices to watch the same show.”

[Read Full Article by Noah Horowitz, Jan 2021]

Cloud-based gaming is great for players that can’t afford the latest hardware. However, while players may experience lower energy usage at home, the true cost is hard to calculate.

“The exact numbers can shift depending on the device used to stream, the network bandwidth required, the distance data must travel, the efficiency of the data center powering the cloud gaming service, and many other factors.”

[Read Full Article by Matthew S. Smith, April 2019]