The Standby Mode on Microsoft's Xbox One Console may be costing Americans a lot of money.

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"Even when it looks like your Xbox One is off, it's still drawing significant amounts of power continuously waiting for you to say 'Xbox on' around-the-clock--including when you're sound asleep or your video game-loving child is at school," writes Noah Horowitz of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) According to a study performed by the NRDC, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U combined produce enough energy annually to sufficiently power all of the homes in Houston for a year. Sony has since implemented fixes on the PlayStation 4 to help with energy consumption, but Horowitz claims Microsoft hasn't addressed the main culprit behind the Xbox One's power-draining nature."Although Microsoft reduced the power drain from its 'Instant On' mode from 18 watts to 12.5 watts, the mode is still the default when it comes out of the box and the user is not even given the option to disable it during the initial setup," he writes. "Users must go deep into the menus to do that, which few are likely to do."It's the console's Standby Mode that accounts for almost forty percent of the console's energy consumption, the NRDC says. The Council warns that not only does this harm the environment, but it also runs consumer's energy bills higher than necessary.In fact, Horowitz suggests the country could save $250 million annually in future energy bills in the United States.He provides a quick walkthrough for consumers to activate the Xbox One's energy-saving mode, which can be accessed through the Power and Startup categories found in the Xbox's Settings menu.In related Xbox One news, CD Projekt Red believes the upcoming Direct X12 upgrade may not help improve

Cassidee is a freelance writer for various outlets around the web. You can chat with her about all things geeky on Twitter