Sony has revealed that its forthcoming PlayStation 5 next-gen console will be less power hungry than the current PS4 - at least when suspending gameplay.

Sony Interactive Entertainment's CEO, Jim Ryan, is attending the UN Climate Summit currently being held in New York City, and explained that the company's next machine will be able to suspend gameplay - standby, effectively - with "much lower power consumption than PS4".

Ryan said that the PS5 will run at around 0.5W when suspended. "If just one million users enable this feature, it would save equivalent to the average electricity use of 1,000 US homes," he added.

As part of the games giant's ongoing commitment to sustainability, it is also looking into the potential of making educational apps and games for the PlayStation VR headset.

"We have committed to working with the industry and climate experts to develop reference information for use by game developers that wish to include sustainability themes in games. In addition, we will investigate potential PS VR applications that can raise awareness of climate issues and climate experts," Ryan wrote in a PlayStation blog post.

The PS5 console is yet to be formally announced, but SIE has drip-fed different details on it over the last few months. You can read our round-up of all the information and rumours gathered so far here: All you need to know about PS5.