1. Doreen Orion aka Queen of the Road | 11.14.08

Please see this essay I wrote for the Huffington Post about this very issue. I think your answer missed a lot of points.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doreen-orion/the-true-price-of-gas_b_104713.html

2. Richard Korp | 11.15.08

I appreciate your article and am glad to see new options from the RV industry to increase fuel efficiency. I have to disagree strongly with your last paragraph which states that the RV lifestyle is not optimal for ones carbon footprint. We have lived full time in an RV for the past six years, traveling throughout North America. My carbon footprint during that time has been much less that if I had stayed at home. Our RV is 350 square feet compared to a 2000 square foot home. Our water heater is six gallons not 50 and we use about 15 gallons of water per day. Our gas mileage of course is worse but not bad since we pull a 5th wheel. But since we have only one vehicle our total miles drive has actually gone down by more than a third. The fact of the matter is that if you are careful, the RV lifestyle can be more environmentally responsible than others.

3. Carol White aka Road Trip Dreamer | 11.15.08

Being environmentally sensitive is long overdue on the average American’s radar, but full-time RVers are often THE most environmentally sensitive. We consume in a very small space (unlike Doreen (Hi Doreen!), we travel in a 20′ Class B Roadtrek Van - even smaller), consume very little due to the small living space and we recycle everything possible. On board we have efficient appliances, heat with propane, and seldom air-condition because we move about to comfortable climates. When we were on our year long gallivant around the US, we only turned the air on a couple of times - unlike our larger “stick” house we live in now.

But it isn’t all about the rig, it really is about living one’s life in a responsible and informed way. Having worked hard all our lives, we decided to take a year and travel all across our great country (37,000+ miles, 48 states, 43 national parks) and see just what American’s are all about. It vastly improved our understanding of history, and we now hear the national news with a much different, more knowledgeable ear. If more people would travel and learn, there would be for more understanding of our differences and more tolerance for the way that others live their lives and why.

Carol White
http://www.roadtripdream.com

4. Doreen Orion aka Queen of the Road | 11.18.08

Hi Carol -
Yes, these are the very same issues I raise in my Huff Post article. As you know, we also took a year off and traveled the country in our converted bus. We have solar panels on the roof, all the appliances (as in most RVs) are energy efficient, if we’re in a town that doesn’t recycle enough, we haul our stuff in our bays until we get to one that does. We use as much water in a week as a “home bound” couple uses in a day and we’re not commuting to work in two cars every day, either. We don’t heat an entire home in the winter, nor cool it in the summer. As I also point out in that article, what better way to appreciate our great country than to actually get to see it. We went from ME to FL to AK, had many adventures and misadventures (fire, flood, armed robbery and an encounter with nudists) while meeting incredible, diverse people and seeing wonderous sights across this great land. All of this gave us more of an appreciation for our environment (yes, especially the nudists) than being “home bound” would have. In this time of so many people needing to downsize, and all of us needing to be more energy efficient, we could do worse than consider the RV life.

Doreen Orion
http://www.QueenOfTheRoadTheBook.com

5. Alan Russell | 11.19.08

The the editors of E Magazine.
“But no matter what you do, living on the road is not optimal for your carbon footprint. If the environment is a big concern, giving up the RV – and outfitting your home with energy-efficient appliances – may be a more responsible thing to do.”

The same thing could be said about living in general. If you want to have the smallest carbon foot print, perhaps you should kill yourself now and avoid the rush.

6. Carol White aka Road Trip Dreamer | 11.20.08

Hi Alan -

So you are suggesting that living in a 2,000 sq.ft. house with utilities blazing 24/7/365 with full-size (energy efficient) appliances, driving 2 cars up and down the freeway to work across town, etc. is MORE friendly than living in 350 sq. ft. RV with modest-sized, energy efficient appliances/utilities going only when you aren’t in a comfortable climate? For the most part, full timers, don’t move every day - they change by months or seasons in order to optimize the nicest (most energy efficient) climate.

I’d be interested in your stats on that. I only know that we spend far more in our home than we would on the road - and we have a newer, energy efficient home in a mild climate.

Doreen and I both took a year long trip to experience life on the road and in the US, which is different than living full-time on the road. Over 1 million people now do that and most of them that we ran into are pretty environmentally conscious.

Carol White
http://www.roadtripdream.com

7. Alan Russell | 11.20.08

No Carol. I actually live in an RV, with my wife, three kids, and two dogs. We been living in it for 8 months due to the housing downturn. It will probably be at least a year before we are able to move into a stick house again.

My point was that it is idiotic for folks like the editors of “E magazine” to point out that one lifestyle is more or less green than the other. If the editors of “E Magazine” really want to reduce their carbon footprint, they should kill themselves, as that is the greenest life style.

Everything else is choices and compromise, and it is wrong to view someones choices though your own circumstances. My grandfather told me not to judge someone until you walked a few miles in their shoes, and that still holds true today.

Green Nerds want to tell us that owning a Suburban is pure evil. Well I got news for Green Nerds. I can’t get two dogs, my wife and my self, and three government mandated child seats into much other than a large SUV, especially if I still need room for a stroller or overnight bag. We barely make due with a minivan but when the kids grow a bit, we are going to have to have a bigger vehicle or stop going to visit our relatives.

8. Randy | 11.24.08

This article is right on and the RV industry is coming up with new designs that will help increase gas savings. One device that is gaining some attention is called an HHO Generator. The device breaks down h20 into hydrogen and this hho gas is than pipped into the air intake of your vehicle. I am excited about this new technoligy and hope it finds it way into the RV industry.