Switch 2 emissions (embodied & use-phase), solar Minecraft, architecture of the Kyoto Protocol, + more – GTG Links 60

Ben Abraham

09 May 2025 • 7 min read

Trying to sneak this one out because I've had a lot of this in the backlog and just haven't had a chance to post it yet – [and I was in such a rush I didn't even finish the intro! Nevermind...!]

I haven't had a chance to get stuck into the Switch 2 hardware yet, but two stories so far have some details worth digging into. The first is the about the bigger battery capacity of the sequel device:

“According to the manufacturer, the Switch 2 console will contain a 5220mAh lithium-ion battery.

This is a higher capacity battery than the one included with the original Switch (which is a 4310mAh battery), and the one included in the Switch Lite (3570mAh).

However, because Switch 2 games require significantly more power than the original Switch, a higher capacity battery doesn’t mean longer battery life in every situation.”

What does that mean for 1) embodied emissions, and 2) use phase emissions for the Switch 2? On the first – I can't recall seeing an LCA for the Switch 1, so we won't have that to compare it to, but there's an interesting new simplified methodology for LCAs for electronic devices that I'd be keen to try out. If someone wants to donate me a Switch 2 to deconstruct and analyse the parts, I think we could get a reasonable approximation.

And on the topic of batteries (not the most emissions intensive part of an electronic device, but not the least either) the Joy-Cons are getting their own battery upgrades too (and yes, that means that the Switch has three internal batteries, which I also often forget about!)

“Nintendo says the new Joy-Con 2 controllers will last around 20 hours depending on their usage, which is similar to that of the original Joy-Con controllers.”

An iFixit guide has a picture of a Joycon battery with a figure of 525 mAh / 1.9 Wh on it – that's teeeeny tiny! (That's about 1/8th of a pretty small phone battery). I wonder how big the new ones will be.

On the second, that is use phase emissions from people playing Switch 2's and using electricity (which I probably don't need to remind you is still in most of the world generated by burning fossil fuels), the picture is also somewhat ambiguous. The following article does some analysis of the battery capacity and claimed runtimes to conclude the following:

"With Nintendo promising a minimum two hours of battery life for Switch 2, that means that all functions of the handheld will consume 10 watts.

That's still pretty impressive! But it is an increase over the Switch 1 (6-8 watts, depending on the model), and perhaps more importantly, it's no guarantee of what sort of power it might use when the Switch 2 is docked. The new active cooling suggests it could really ramp up quite a bit. If I had to bet, I'd say we could see double or triple the power in docked mode – but that's just speculation. (It would still be far below the other consoles and lighyears less than the average gaming PC)

We'll know for sure soon enough. Eventually, it might even show up in Nintendo’s ESG data when they report on 2025 (though we won’t see that until well into 2026 – I just checked their ESG Data Sheet site again, and we still don't have 2024 data, and here we are five months into 2025).

Gaia’s riddle is an entirely solar-powered Minecraft server

Professor Bart Simon of Concordia University and the Minecraft Bloc research group are running a 100% solar-powered Minecraft server. How sick is that! I've been meaning to post about this for a while,

Energy efficiency review of servers

Whither Sustainable Development?

Adam Tooze on the US administration's denouncing of the UN SDG’s - he’s absolutely right and it reveals the (relative) lack of seriousness with which the world has taken the idea of “sustainable development”.

Climate activism works

We review 50 studies on the impacts of climate activism. We present the existing evidence in a map of what we know about climate activism and its impacts. There is strong evidence that climate activism shifts public opinion and media coverage in a pro-climate direction, but this varies by context and the tactics employed. There is more moderate evidence that activism can pressure policymakers to communicate more about climate change, encourage voters to vote in a more pro-climate direction, and financially pressure carbon-intensive companies. We review suggestive evidence that protest can influence emissions and environmental policy. Although these studies cover a wide swath of outcome variables, a majority examine intermediate variables, rather than long-term impacts. Generalizability is challenged by a bias toward the United States and Western Europe. We call for greater focus outside those geographic areas and more attention to activism’s impact on public policy and emissions.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352154625000178?via=ihub

Chinese language about climate is distinct from the west

This guide is very helpful to decode the phrases the world's largest emitter uses to talk about its

Do you want to see the new super-efficient VW electric motor

These guys have nothing but praise for it! Very cool to see.

Magneto-electric cooling

A cool alternative to refrigerant gasses – but with some added overheads and niche use cases.

The cloud is dead

Tech Workers Coalition held a great webinar on data centres, climate, and labour

New type of flash memory

New type of storage that’s super fast and super energy efficient developed by some Chinese researchers. Incredible stuff!

Kyoto Protocol Venue

Bit of climate history + architecture in this Instagram Reel about the ICC in Kyoto where the Kyoto Protocol was signed. What a beautiful space. It really does seem like the kind of place you would sign a world historic agreement, it surely had an effect.