I want a green RV

It seems that there are a few ways to live very lightly and cheaply on this earth, my favorite being the sailboat. With a decent photovoltaic setup and a water maker, you can pretty much stock up on beans, rice and bait and live for damn near nothing in some pretty spectacular places. The outer islands of the Bahamas come to mind, and we’ve spent many beautiful months there doing just that.

But bad weather is annoying, and dragging anchor at midnight in a storm sucks, so we’ve switched to RVing. At first blush, this is a hideous blow to the environment, what with getting eight miles to the gallon and all. But this isn’t commuting. It’s living. Last year ago we did a grand four-month trip across the US and deep into Mexico. It was way fun and actually turned out to be ecologically highly defensible.

First issue is fuel. We traveled eight thousand miles and burned a thousand gallons of diesel. We have friends in nearby Nobleboro, Maine who burned fifteen hundred just to keep the house warm. Hmmm. Who’s Al Gore’s pal now?

Second is water. The amount of water wasted by the average residence is incredible. I’ve seen 170 gallons per day, per person thrown around as an average number. Onboard Harvey, our 39 foot diesel motor coach, we can last three to seven days on 100 gallons of fresh water. That’s about 5% of what the standard household goes through.

But I want a really green RV. The New York Times on Sunday had an interesting article on green RVs. They featured a couple with a rig similar to ours that refit it to burn left over fast food grease. I think this is a great idea, but it doesn’t scale. There isn’t enough waste grease generated in this country to fuel more than a small fraction of the vehicles on the road. It’s like trying to heat you house using toilet paper stolen from public bathrooms. It might work for one person, but it definitely doesn’t scale.

Our 2007 Toyota Prious gets 55 MPG on a bad day, and I’ve coaxed it to over 80 MPG when really trying hard. I wish it had a solar panel on the roof like our sailboat did, and apparently the 2009 model has a solar panel for air conditioning, but that’s not enough. I want a full on hybrid RV with 10 big panels on the roof, a deployable windmill and an electric motor that can run 100 miles on battery alone.

An RV and an open schedule are perfectly suited to solar and wind. If the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, just wait around. When the batteries are fully charged, then go. Add a water maker and you’re talking really tiny carbon footprint. A composting toilet would be a good addition, and make for a really compelling green existence.

Additionally, normal stick built residences can’t go where the work is or the water or the food or whatever else is desirable out there. With a green RV, you could pretty much always live in the most desirable place at any given time. How many homeowners in Michigan in 2008 wish they could turn the key and drive their houses somewhere most hospitable? I’m thinking most of them.

Anyway, I want a green RV.