How to Go Green With Your RV

Going green means many different things to many different people. For the RVer, it means, among other things, enjoying nature by being environmentally sensitive to the natural surroundings during your travels. With an estimated 8 million RVs on the road, greening your motorhome, travel trailer, or 5th wheel can help you make a difference now and for future RVers. Read on to see how you can green your RV.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Solar Panels
• Generator propane conversion kit
• Catalytic heater
• LED lights
• Various paper products
• Water Softener
• Laundry detergent

1. Just like your stick house, adding solar panels to your RV can help you save on shore and/or generator power usage. A few large solar panels on the RV roof will help keep your batteries charged up during the day so you don't have to run your generator for battery charging. Yes, it's expensive to install but the rewards are priceless.

2. If you can't go solar because of the cost and you have an on-board gas generator, consider converting it to propane. It's cleaner burning with much less CO emissions than gasoline, and your on-board propane tanks can supply the fuel. Kits are available from almost any RV parts supply.
   
   If you have a diesel generator, run it on bio-diesel if the generator manufacturer will allow it without voiding your warranty. French fries smell much better than diesel fumes anyway.
   
   But if you can swing both, solar and a propane/bio-diesel generator is the cat's meow, making your RV a nice deep shade of green.

3. Install a propane catalytic heater. Your regular RV furnace uses both electricity to run the blower and propane for heating. A catalytic heater uses no electricity, provides radiant heat, and saves you battery power, lessoning the need for generator run time.

4. Replace incandescent bulbs with LED lighting, even the running and parking lights. Doing this alone will help you save a lot of battery power since LEDs draw very little current compared to their incandescent brothers, again saving you generator run time. There are a variety of LEDs in all shapes and sizes to fit your RVs light fixtures. Recent advancements in LED construction make the light from an LED almost identical to an incandescent bulb. And all this without sucking your battery flat if you forget to turn off the lights.

5. Most RVers are already doing this but using paper products, like plates, bowls, and cups, can help reduce landfill decomposition time, unlike plastics which can take hundreds of years to break down. Don't forget to use paper bags as well. Trees can always be replanted so get out there and plant a few. Just don't park the RV near those trees if you have solar panels, as the shade from the trees reduces the panel's power output.

6. Use the GEO method for controlling odor in your holding tanks rather than holding tank chemicals. The GEO method is simply a combination of water softener and biodegradable laundry detergent. Both of these are friendly to septic and sewage treatment plants.
   
   Add a few cups of water softener and a cup of laundry detergent to a gallon of hot water and pour through the toilet in to the black tank. Use tank as usual. When full, drain as usual and repeat. The laundry detergent will keep the tank clean and the water softener will keep the tank slick so nothing can stick to it.

Tips & Warnings

• Slow down - towing or cruising the RV at 60 MPH rather than 70 MPH can really help reduce fuel usage and thus CO emissions.
• Use propane instead of charcoal for the BBQ. Propane burns much cleaner but you might lose a little bit of that great charcoal taste.
• Reduce campfire smoke by using well seasoned wood, the drier the better. Or try a Java Log. Made from used coffee grounds, Java Log smoke contains 87 percent less carbon monoxide and 83 percent less particulate matter than smoke from wood, for about $5 a log.
• Save some gas and ride your bike to the store if you have to get a few supplies while camping.
• Open those windows and let the breeze flow through your RV (if the temperature isn't too hot) instead of running the A/C. This will save generator run time and thus reduce CO emissions.

Resources

• RV Mods and How-to's

[mattsaboy]

on 9/12/2009 Great and well written article. 5 stars and a recommendation.

[SchoolOfLife]

on 3/14/2009 Very well written, great information. Keep up the good work! :P

[Heart-C]

on 8/5/2008 In a related issue, I think there must be better education out there on the higher costs of incandescent light bulb usage. Cool article!

[SmithM99]

on 7/27/2008 thanks

[heatherschulte]

on 7/15/2008 Wonderful information!