A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council titled "Lowering the Cost of Play: Improving Energy Efficiency of Video Game Consoles" reveals that video game consoles across America collectively suck up "an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year — roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego." So what's the solution here — never game again? No, but, like with all electric appliances, smart power management is the order of the day:

"Through the incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO₂ each year."

You don't leave all the lights on when you go to sleep, do you? Turn off your game console, too — just save and head to bed. Check out the NRDC report for more tips on how to cut back on your power usage.

NRDC, via Ars Technica