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Did you know that your gaming console can cost you up to $160 a year in energy costs? But that's not always the case. If you by the right system -- and if you use it properly -- you can cut that cost to as low as $3.

That's quite a bit difference, and there's quite a big range in the energy consumption of various gaming systems. According to a new study by Retrovo.com that calculates how much energy is used by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft game systems.

The Nintendo Wii turns out to be the most energy efficient gaming platform on the market. If you leave it on 24/7 (which you shouldn't, yet 16% of gamers really do leave their consoles on all the time), the Wii will cost you just $10 a year in electricity. If you turn it off when you're not using it, that number drops to just $3.

But on the other end of the spectrum is the 2005 version of the Sony PlayStation 3, which costs $15 a year if you turn it off when you're not playing it, or a whopping $160 a year if you leave it on all the time.

The Wii keeps its energy use down by having a strong sleep mode that almost (but not quite) turns the machine off when it's idle. Other gaming platforms don't have that.

Click here for the full chart, listing the 2007 PlayStation and two versions of the Xbox 360, as well as more details about this study.