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Smart Vending Machines

"A typical vending machine is a huge energy hog," says Elizabeth Cordero, Harvard University's Sustainable Buildings Program Coordinator.

"Hog" is right. An ordinary vending machine uses about 3,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. (A refrigerator uses 450 to 800 kilowatt-hours.) The yearly result is a $380 electric bill and more than two tons of carbon dioxide pollution.

To save money and cut down on pollution, Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts has installed VendingMiser on campus vending machines. VendingMiser uses a motion sensor to detect when people are in the room. If it doesn't detect anyone for 15 minutes, it shuts the vending machine off. This saves a lot of energy, especially at night and on weekends when many of the buildings are closed.

These "smart" vending machines use about half as much electricity. They cost half as much to operate and produce half as much pollution. Let's drink to that!

(credit Alec Solomita and the Harvard Gazette)

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