Narrow Victory for Energy Bill in the House

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest or RSS Feed. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information! RV.Net Blog Admin By Bob Difley The energy bill that passed the House on Friday will no doubt antagonize a lot of people around the country, mostly those from industrial Midwest, farm, and southern states whether Republicans or Democrats. All the Republicans and 44 Democrats that voted against the bill warn that we are in for economic disaster, that carbon caps will raise energy prices forcing more manufacturers to move to China where there are no caps, and to other countries that do not limit greenhouse gasses. They also contend that energy costs will rise to consumers, jobs will be lost, and the country will sink into such debt that it may ruin the country. On the other hand, those who voted for the bill, all Democrats, feel that this climate legislation would begin to tilt the equation of energy policy in the US. It would cap greenhouse gas emissions for the first time in US history, boost production of renewable electricity sources, create investments in clean-energy technology, create thousands of jobs, and help free us from the grasp of foreign oil producers and their hold... Read more

2009 Stella Award Winner (It isn’t Winnebago)

If you think it’s been a bad year for the RV industry, and especially motorhome manufacturers, this year’s first place Stella Award must have those at Winnebago shaking their heads and asking, “What next”? In case you don’t recognize the Stella Awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who spilled hot coffee in her lap after she took the lid off the coffee, placed it between her legs, and drove off. It didn’t occur to her that it might spill and burn her, which it did. The kicker is, of course, that she successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee and won. The annual awards are for the most ridiculous law suits–not for being filed, but for actually being won! This year’s runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home and on her first trip home from an Oklahoma U football game, she drove onto the freeway, set the cruise control at 70 mph. Then she calmly left the driver’s seat to go back to the Winnebago’s kitchen to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her–are you sitting down–$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor... Read more

Hybrid Vehicles Gaining Acceptance

By Bob Difley Johnson Controls, a leading producer of lead-acid batteries for passenger cars and trucks, including batteries for hybrid vehicles, commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a survey on Americans’ attitudes toward buying a hybrid vehicle. The online survey contacted 2,309 adults 18 years and older with the results weighted to reflect the composition of the US population for gender, education, income, ethnicity, and propensity to go online. The survey was conducted between March 9th and 11th, 2009 and revealed some interesting results. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

FLASH: PREDICTION OF AN ICE FREE NORWAY

By Bob Difley A highly placed government minister in Norway predicted that the country would be ice free by 2015. This was enough, even to those that believe global warming is taking place at an unprecedented rate, to make them cringe. And you could hear the skeptics falling off their chairs in shock. It wasn’t until Finance Minister, Kristin Halvorsen, explained at a recent alternative fuels and vehicles exhibition in Oslo, that her proposal was to ban the sale of ICE-only (Internal Combustion Engines) by 2015 that brought order back to the assembly. Halvorsen’s plan allows hybrids with IC engines, but stops the sale of conventional IC engine vehicles. She also called for the development of hydrogen and plug-in electric vehicles. Though Halavorsen explained that this was a realistic goal and the climate crisis problem would have to be solved after the financial crisis has been turned around, there was little chance that her goal would be achieved since she belongs to the minority party of Norway’s three-party coalition and the simple fact that Norway’s economy depends on the export of petroleum. However, a smaller country leaning in that direction may have influence on how much effort and development funds vehicle manufacturers will be willing to invest in continuing development of ICE-only vehicles. And with every automobile and light truck manufacturer scheduling hybrid and electric vehicles to hit the market in the next couple years, it... Read more

Hyper Mileage Tips

By Bob Difley If you don’t think that adopting conservative driving habits can increase your mileage, consider a test that Ford recently conducted. They put a team together consisting of a NASCAR driver, an engineer, and a hyper-mileage record breaker to see how many miles they could wring out of a tank of gas in a stock Ford Fusion Hybrid. Driving on open roads they got–are your ready–1,445.7 miles out of one tank of gas. That works out to 81.5 mpg. Now don’t expect to get those kinds of results driving your 40-foot diesel pusher or pulling your Grrand Teton fiver with four slides. But, they proved that you can stretch your mileage. And you can too, by taking a few tips from the team and applying some version of them to your driving. Slow down and maintain even pressure on the throttle Accelerate gradually, both from a stop and when entering a freeway Brake smoothly, avoiding fast stops Keep a safe distance between the vehicle in front of you Look ahead and anticipate traffic conditions. Slow down well before you need to Coast up to red lights and stop signs to avoid wasting fuel waste and wear on the brakes Minimize using heater and dash air conditioning to reduce the load on the engine Run roof air and close windows at high speeds to reduce aerodynamic drag Minimize excessive engine workload by using the vehicle’s kinetic forward motion to climb hills Use downhill momentum, rather than applying accelerator, to build speed back up On a recent... Read more

Digging Deeper Into the CAFE Mileage Standards

For those of you who think that the new CAFE mileage standards for cars and light trucks will have us trying to pull our trailers and fifth wheels with under-powered, inadequate toy trucks and driving around in little tin can-like Smart Cars, you can stop worrying. First of all, the standards call for an “average” of 35.5 mpg for all vehicles that fall into the car and light truck category. Larger vehicles will fall somewhere below the 35.5 mpg, while cars will average more than 40 mpg. An article by Joseph B.White this week in the Wall Street Journal outlines how those requiring larger vehicles–such as for towing heavy RVs–will still be able to buy them. Here is part of what he says: Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Finally, Sensible and Achievable Mileage Standards

By Bob Difley This was a big week for environmentalists,the auto companies, and foes of foreign oil addiction. The Obama administration announced new CAFÉ mileage standards for American built cars and light trucks. Beginning in 2016—four years earlier than the 2007 energy bill–passenger cars will have to attain 39 mpg (a 30% increase) and light trucks 30 mpg for a combined mpg of 35.5. This is a huge increase over current CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards. The bill will also regulate tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide. Much of credit for pushing these standards goes to the West coast states and the northeastern states for pushing tougher standards than the Federal Government had required. Since about 45% of the population lives in these progressive states, the car makers knew that the more stringent standards were inevitable and jumped on board. In fact, one of the original complaints of the car companies was that it would be impossible to manufacture vehicles that had to comply with different standards in every state. So they were ready to accept the a mileage standard (after fighting higher mileage standards for the last 15 years or so). What this means to the environment and global climate change is that there will be far less CO2 emissions from vehicles (currently about one-quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions in the US) due to the reduced amount of gasoline burned, as well as an improvement in air quality. The new standards will reduce our... Read more

The Boondocker’s Air-Conditioning System

By Bob Difley Spring suddenly blossomed into an early indication of the summer to come, with temps soaring this weekend in Northern California to the mid-eighties along the coast, and high 90s inland. Desert temps are driving the last of the snowbirds onto their northerly migration as temps soar over 105 degrees. When that kind of weather hits suddenly, without much time to acclimate, many RVers fire up their air-conditioners and stay inside, hoping the heat will not last for too many days. Boondockers are different, though, heading up in altitude rather than in latitude because of what is known in weather circles as “lapse rate,” the increase or decrease in temperature with the change of altitude. To complicate things, the rate of change varies with the moisture in the air–the humidity, just as the temperature spread between day and night at the same altitude varies with the humidity. You’ve all noticed that in humid areas, the mid-west and south for instance, in summer the variance between day and night is minimal. Remember trying to sleep after a 90-degree day when it cooled off to only 80 degrees overnight. Or how nice it was in the desert after a 90-degree day to have the night cool down into the 60s. In dealing with altitude, though, the amount of change for desert–or dry–air is called the “dry adiabatic lapse rate” and is equivalent to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) for every thousand feet of altitude. What... Read more

Do I Hear the Word “Rebound”?

By Bob Difley   Subtle signs indicate that maybe this economic thunderstorm is starting to fizzle out–at least in the RV marketplace. Country Coach has reopened with Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has sold a couple units (at about $600,000 each) and has deposits on a few more. Though they have only hired back about 20% of their workers they claim to be able to produce one unit a week and will attempt to sell them direct from the factory. That may (or may not) be good news for buyers who assume that by cutting out the dealer middle man the retail price will be more attractive. Or will it mean more profit to the manufacturer. And of course you will have to journey to Junction City, Oregon to make your purchase rather than your friendly neighborhood dealer. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

My Dream RV

By Bob Difley I’m due for a new rig. A year ago that statement would have been, “I’m due for a new motorhome.” I admit I have never owned a towable, but have several friends that do and I have looked at the merits of both. Some of the reasons I like motorhomes are: Easier to maneuver into tight campsites (like forest service and BLM sites). Easier to get into boondocking spots once toad is detached. Frig., toilet, water, etc. accessible without having to stop and leave vehicle. Traffic ahead easier to see from higher vantage point of motorhome. Two drivables (with toad), if one fails. Touring and exploring in a small fuel-efficient toad is more economical than a truck (or motorhome without toad). I often dropped my wife off with toad to food shop and do errands while I went on to campsite and set up. Read more Tell a Friend Read More →

Next Page »