Eco-vending

Well…prepacked goods dispensed from brightly illuminated appliances is miles away from a truly green food source, but thanks to a new proposal from the U.S.’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, vending machines are gearing up to go green.

Currently the purveyors of pop guzzle approximately 1,900 kwh to 2,600 kwh per year. The proposed measures would cut energy use of glass- or polymer-front machines by as much as 42 percent and about 15 percent in the more traditional solid-front vending machines.

Each machine manufactured under the new standards would save about $320 per year in energy costs. With 3 million beverage vending machines in the United States, the energy savings would literally be pouring in.

And in the long-term, the savings are even more…er…juicy. Over a 30-year period, as much as 10 billion kwh of electricity could be saved.

How much is that? About enough electricity to heat roughly 800,000 homes for a year. The cost savings to the vending machine property owners would be in the $250 million range and CO2 emissions eliminated could be as much as 5 million metric tons, according to the Department of Energy. 

Doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fizzy?