We live in a passive/active solar home (Westbrook House) and generally have a light environmental footprint. So how can we justify a Winnebago Travato camper van that gets about 15-17 mpg? Paul has driven a Prius since 2004 (Paul's Prius) and Elena since 2006. We calculated in that time, versus driving 25mpg vehicles (the US average), we have saved 8,374 gallons of gas. That saved us $21,689, which is more than the cost of one Prius. To offset all those savings we would have to drive the RV for about 150,000 miles, which is unlikely - we would have very sore bottoms.
The other way to look at it is the CO2 footprint. Our normal vacation mode for decades has been to fly somewhere, rent a car, and either stay in hotels or bring our camping gear with us. Because of the large CO2 footprint associated with flying, we actually come out slightly better by driving and staying in our RV. As a bonus, Bebop can travel with us in the RV.
The van also has a 12.8kW lithium-ion battery bank on board that can charge via plug or via an alternator while driving. Solar panels on the roof provide a little charge as well. So, we don't have a noisy and polluting gasoline generator to run. Cooking is all electric with an induction cook top and combination microwave/convection oven. Propane is only used for space and water heating, though modest amounts of heating can also be done with the batteries.
Though we'll be using the traditional fuel made from dead plants and dinosaur poop to move from site to site, we'll be doing it with a modest environmental footprint - or in the case of Bebop, a paw print.
Here's our Travato gas use after 4 weeks on the road vs the gas we've saved in our Prius vehicles.
Paul
Fly / Rental Car Vacation
RV Vacation
0 comments:
Post a Comment