Just the idea of a green vending machine is sort of an oxymoron; after all, they’re normally filled with food and drink that’s laden with high fructose corn syrup and plastic packaging that will never find its way to a recycling bin (excluding a few organic vending machines). Still when it comes to items like this, which will likely never disappear completely, sometimes the best you can do is celebrate the improvements, and new energy efficiency standards for vending machines are definitely worth a cheer or two.

The new proposed standards from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (which will be imposed in August if all goes according to plan) will see drastic cuts in the energy use of vending machines that dispense beverages in bottles and cans. Energy use in glass or polymer front machines could be reduced by as much as 42 percent and solid front machines could see a reduction of about 15 percent. Vending machines have already improved in terms of energy efficiency since the early 90s and Energy Star certification is available on the machines, but the new standards would result in both decreased energy use and financial savings of a little over $300 a year per machine.

To get a better understanding of the environmental impact the standards could have for the country, consider that there are approximately 3 million vending machines in the U.S. and that the DOE estimates that in the long term (30 years of use) the energy-efficient vending machines could save enough electricity to power about 800,000 average homes for a year and eliminate CO2 emissions equivalent to those produced by the use of a million cars for a year. Suddenly new vending machine energy standards don’t seem like such a small thing, do they?

Already PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are testing and developing new greener vending machines (independent of the new standard requirements) that are more energy efficient and avoid the use of hydrofluorocarbons for refrigeration, and at next year’s Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, all the Coca-Cola vending machines will be hydrofluorocarbon-free. For even better energy-efficiency, however, organizations like the Natural Resources Defence Council are hoping that vending machine makers will start implementing smart controls which can turn off lights and other non-crucial components when the machines are not in use.

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