Food Service & Vending
If your business or institution has a commercial kitchen, energy efficiency can help you save energy and money. In addition to lowering energy costs, efficiency improvements can enhance the comfort, appearance, and ambience of your restaurant, cafeteria, or kitchen for your guests and staff. Simple changes to your kitchen, such as pushing cooking line appliances as close to the hood as possible, fixing water leaks, and setting water heaters to proper temperatures can save energy with little investment. Rebates for qualified equipment are available from the DC SEU.
Projects with an estimated incentive greater than $5,000* or with a fixture count of more than 100 are not eligible for Business Energy Rebates and will be forwarded to the Commercial and Institutional Custom program for consideration.
*Maximum rebate amount of $5,000 is per location, per fiscal year, with a maximum of 100 fixtures eligible for rebates.
Vending Equipment
On average,a non-ENERGY STAR® qualified cold-beverage machine consumes 427 watts, costing approximately $350 per year to operate. Using a passive infrared sensor, a plug-in vending machine controller completely powers down a vending machine during times of low use. It is designed to control indoor machines that dispense non-perishable cold beverages. Installation is very straightforward and can result in annual savings of nearly $200. Vending machine controllers are also designed to reduce maintenance costs and extend the life
of the vending machine by significantly reducing the number of compressor cycles run.
| Type of Space | Estimated Savings |
Low-Traffic Areas
(K-12 schools, 5 days per week offices) | 58% or $200/year |
| Medium-Traffic Areas | 48% or $175/year |
High-Traffic Areas
(cafeterias, dorms, convenience stores,
7 days per week office) | 38% or $133/year |
| Vending Equipment | Rebate |
| Vending Machine Controllers | $50 |
Plug-Load Occupancy Sensor*
| $20 |
*Plug-load refers to anything that is plugged into an electrical outlet. A plug load sensor is either a power strip with a built-in occupancy sensor or a special power strip/surge protector that has an occupancy sensor that plugs into the strip.