If you're setting up your brand-spanking new Xbox One for the very first time, you will now be prompted with the option of choosing between two power options: Energy-saving and Instant-on.

Responding to a recent criticism from the environmental advocacy group National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Microsoft is adding a power-choice screen to the initial setup process for newer Xbox One systems. Although previous owners of the console have always had the opportunity to choose between the two modes, the new setup screen now shows the options a bit more prominently than it did before. In addition to producing the new screen during setup, Microsoft also notes the drawbacks of choosing the energy-saver mode whilst advocating the perks of its "Instant-on" feature.

Energy-saving

  • Slower startup time
  • Get interrupted for updates

Instant-on

  • Faster startup time
  • Get updates automatically

The instant-on mode, as stated by Microsoft, costs the average US customer roughly $6.50 to $15.50 a year in energy consumption, while the new energy-saving mode will cost, typically, between 26 and 62 cents per year. The NRDC report claims that disabling the instant-on mode could save taxpayers a cumulative total of up to $250 million per year, with the organization imploring Microsoft to add a way "to make disabling the mode easy at set up."

As noted by Xbox Wire, Microsoft is committed to improve the power consumption of the Xbox One platform as it "demonstrated with Xbox 360," adding the reduction in power consumption of the instant-on (which uses 15 watts) feature by a third since the launch of the Xbox One.