Green RVing - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Future Fulltimers · RV-Dreams Family Member

Green RVing

Doncat · RV-Dreams Family Member

We always try to do our part in being good stewards of God's creation. I am think that the camper's golden rule is a good start, When camping, "Take only pictures and leave only tracks".

blijil · RV-Dreams Family Member

While you can do some things to be energy efficient in the day to day use of your RV as far as appliances, solar, low power lighting, good insulation, double pane windows etc and even consider the big picture when using a lot of paper plates and plastic utensils but most of your impact will be from your travel style. Some criss cross the country putting as much as 50,000 miles on their rig while others see the country stopping for two weeks to three months at a time taking it all in before moving on. Of course you can catch a glimpse of everything in a couple of years or you can move a bit more slowly and consume much less over many years. Some do this naturally and others maintain a frantic pace for a long time. It is hard to move from the hectic gotta do it now mentality to the I have the rest of my life to see what I want to mentality. If you just look at the financial pages of many rvbloggers you will see when they get in the frantic mode even for a month or two they use more non renewable resources in a short time than they do the rest of the year.

You can do the math but the decision is usually made based on our own values.

Larry and Jacki

Howard · Host

Now I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but my opinion is almost every person that starts full-timing is automatically "greener" than they were in their previous lifestyle.

We just don't "consume" as much. Our energy consumption is far less, we create less trash, we generally buy less stuff (no room), and we do more electronically/paperless since mail is an issue.

For us, we now only drive 12,000 miles a year instead of the 40,000 miles a year we drove before. But even if you drive a motorhome or large truck 40,000 miles a year, I still think the net environmental effect of full-timing is less.

Obviously, it is much easier to run an RV with solar power than a house, so those that choose that route are helping even more.

The one thing that we have found difficult is recycling. It's not nearly as easy as it was in a stick house near a fairly large city. The campgrounds and RV parks are coming around on that, but it's still pretty "hit & miss".

I too was concerned about that 10 mpg or less problem, but I see now how much less taxing this lifestyle is on our environment. And I think that full-timers as a group are generally much more environmentally friendly than the rest of society anyway.

My advice. Don't fret it - just by asking the question, you are far ahead of most of your peers.

RVDude · RV-Dreams Family Member

I also tend to agree with Howard that the FT lifestyle seems overall to be a greener lifestyle. We simply don't "consume" as much as we would in sticks. Smaller physical footprint, smaller carbon footprint, less is actually far more! I would love to see a university study on this.

Unfortunately, we don't get much help from the RV manufacturers. Not to knock our rigs or make anyone unhappy, the manufacturers simply do not apply very many green approaches in design and build. Limited insulation, infrequent double pane windows, terribly inefficient appliances (furnace, water heaters, etc.), cramming in more and more halogen instead of LED. This list goes on and on. The RV market right now is more about look and less about green performance. (Note that engine technology whether towed or coach is quite the opposite.)

Sure, RVs are changing, ever so slowly. For now, green rigs/appliances are very pricey. Our nautical friends and European manufacturers are far greener with extremely efficient stoves, refers, heaters, and the like. Check out some of the latest boats and German built RVs. Wow!

What can we do? Start with the little things. Look at 18seconds.org. We RVers can change one regular bulb for a LED bulb (CFL bulbs typically don't apply to RVs). We can always ask our dealers and write to the manufacturers asking for green. This will start pressure to mass produce green and make them cheaper. Consider that if you stay south white paint is cheaper to cool than a full paint model. The technically adventuresome can swap out standard RV propane heaters with multi-stage models (costs a couple bills more than single stage). Even better use hydronic systems (many many bills more) or go all out with catalytic stoves and heat. Add solar and lots of it. Just to name a few.

RV technology is changing faster than ever. In time, looks performance, usability performance, and green performance will become equals. Keep asking, keep talking, and keep doing little things. That keeps green front of mind.

-- Edited by RVDude at 21:01, 2007-02-22

Judy the Other · RV-Dreams Family Member

Interesting thread. I have wondered about this aspect of RVing for some time. I had never looked at it from the traveling less, consuming less perspective. It's hard to think of going from a small, efficient car to a big gas hog truck as "green" but now I see how it could be.

RVDude thanks for the 18seconds link. We have all CFLs or LEDs in our current home. They also decrease heat production, thereby allowing you to lower your cooling costs.

Howard · Host

I know this is an old thread, but RV-Dreamer Jim Mayleben sent me this link today.

A nice article on Green RVing.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/travel/escapes/07RV.html