Where I've been

I know I haven't been around for a while. My last post was Dec. 24. Aren't the holidays great? Relaxing in your pajamas? Having to work the Day After Christmas? Spending too much time playing video games?

Which brings me to my subject for today: Video games use up a lot of energy. The Natural Resources Defense Council recently conducted a study, along with some smart consultants, and found that the PS3 and the XBOX 360 use gobs of electricity. A post at Plenty mag says the consoles "gobble up electricity as fast as Ms. Pac-Man swallows pellets," a little dated reference if you ask me.

Anyway, the PS3 uses about $134 in electricity a year. Sounds like a refrigerator. The XBOX isn't much better, at $103 a year. The Wii, the most awesome of them all (gosh, my shoulder hurts), uses a mere $10 a year. Hell yes.

So if you get Guitar Hero, for the Wii, you could play something by an eco-conscious rocker and feel good about wasting time.

Also, if you follow the instructions on the NRDC Web site, you can enable the power-saving mode for the (wish you had a Wii) PS3 and XBOX and cut your carbon footprint.

- Green Mullet.