Friday, July 25, 2008

Talking "green" when taking a road trip

So how do you reconcile driving a big, American-style RV that gets around 10 miles per gallon of gasoline in the current energy and environmental concerns in the US? We could talk about this subject for a long time and will probably revisit this in later posting. For today, I thought I would tell you about two of our recommended RV rental companies and what they are doing that point to your concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and overall cost of your trip.

The first company is El Monte. Based in the Los Angeles area, this RV rental company just recently offered their clients the ability to purchase carbon offsets right on their website through a provider called TerraPass. TerraPass is a carbon offset provider that takes the voluntary offset purchases and invests them in projects that are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The projects are clean energy produced by wind power; farm power which makes good use of animal wastes; and landfill gas capture, which reduces the impact of our own wastes. And it's pretty cheap! For a Class C RV, the cost of a carbon offset is currently only $7.32 per trip. If you want more information, I would suggest googling "carbon offset providers". You can also go to http://www.elmonterv.com/ to learn more about green RVing.

The second company is Go West. This Canadian-based RV rental company is offering a new RV for rental, a 22' Dodge Sprinter van conversion. This vehicle has a Mercedes diesel chassis and can get up to 25 miles per gallon. It's designed for two people with a double bed in the rear, A/C, furnace, bathroom, propane stove, microwave, inside and outside showers and many more amenities. Here's a picture at the right. We feel that this is the beginning of a new trend in the RV industry that is directly responding to the recent increase in fuel prices. (Hint: they've been doing this in Europe for years.) To see more details, go to http://www.go-west.com/. We have itineraries that cover beautiful areas of western Canada including Jasper and Banff National Parks and Vancouver Island and Whistler. Check out the trip catalog on our website, http://www.tracks-trails.com/ for more information or call us toll-free at 1-800-247-0970!

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