Southwest Journal - Save Energy on Vending

Southwest Journal: Story by Dylan Thomas

Chances are you have one humming away right now in your school or office, cooling the Cokes or coddling Snickers bars in its spiral grip.

Vending machines are everywhere, and many of them draw a steady stream of electricity from the grid even when the lunchroom is empty. The average vending machine uses 7 to 13 kilowatt-hours of energy per day, to the tune of about $300 per year.

Those figures come from Clean Energy Resource Teams, or CERTs, a public-private partnership that promotes energy-saving projects across the state. In February, CERTs launched a campaign that aims to reduce the amount of electricity used by vending machines, while at the same time lowering the energy bills for the businesses and organizations where those machines are located.

CERTs was organizing a statewide bulk-buy program to acquire a new vending machine add-on that cuts the machines’ energy use. Those who sign up by May 1 can get a VendingMiser for $164, a discount from its normal price of $179.

The VendingMiser plugs in between a vending machine and a wall outlet and includes a motion sensor that will turn off the machine for one to three hours when no one is around. The VendingMiser also has internal and external temperature monitors, so that a machine will turn back on to keep drinks and snacks cooled to the appropriate temperature.

At full price, the $179 VendingMiser could be expected to pay for itself through energy savings in less than 17 months. Purchasing the VendingMiser through CERTs shortens that payback period.

Those who purchase multiple VendingMisers for use on adjacent machines pay only $156 per unit.

Estimates from CERTs indicated a VendingMiser could cut energy costs by about $130 per year. They can cut energy consumption nearly in half when installed on a vending machine.

The folks behind VendingMiser also say their product may extend the life of some machines by limiting how often their compressors run. National vending machine companies endorse the devices, CERTs reported.

Find more information, and a place to sign up for the bulk-buy program, on the CERTs website: http://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org.