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Friday, June 18, 2010

RV Lifestyle : List of Ways RV's are Green and Ways to Improve

I love living in the RV so far. It represents so much of what I believe is 'right' and 'true' to do in this world. Philosophically, it is completely against the consumer-ish mindset that seems to be prevalent. It is about less=more, small=big. I thought I would list some of the ways RV's are green and also a second list on how RV's can be better.

Ways RV's are Green or Environmentally Friendly

  • Living in an RV, you simply buy less stuff.
  • Black water tanks make you conscious of your waste.
  • Small hot water heaters make you take shorter showers.
  • Small space is smaller to heat.
  • Small space is smaller to cool.
  • Smaller refrigerator/less storage = more fresh food / more fresh purchases / more local consumption.
  • You can move closer to your work so you can drive less.
  • Small space means small outdoor space means less 'land footprint' required.
  • RV dwellers tend to be outside more (less air conditioning)
  • DC voltage system lends itself well to LED lighting
  • Small space with windows on both sides means it is easier to get get a breeze through.
  • Built in furniture means you don't buy furniture and big things - not filling up landfills.
  • Awnings are naturally part of the RV experience and they keep things cool so you use less air conditioning.
  • People tend to cook outside more w/ an RV meaning that the heat from cooking doesn't require the cooling to counteract.
  • RV hot water heaters are really easy to turn on/off lending themselves to simply turning off and saving energy.
  • LP Gas bottles make you THINK about saving LP Gas so you don't have to fill them up so much.


Ways RV's can improve their Environmental impact

  • RV's seem to use lots of plastics which I'm not so sure are great materials for the environment.
  • RV's don't seem to have great insulation which I think is a problem.
  • RV's seem to be subject to the sunlight and get awfully hot. There has to be a way to make them even more able to reject the sun's heating ways.
  • RV's black water system may encourage too much water usage to keep clean and waste water.
  • RV's black water system probably ought to be more sophisticated - too many people putting chemicals in the black water to keep clean. Maybe the gray water could be pumped into the black to re-use the gray to flush the black out?

Those were some things I was thinking about. What about you?



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