Green Washing Podcast with Brian Brawdy & Thetford’s Mary Burrows

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 AdminDo you ever get tired of the spin, of being lied to, or worse yet, of being misled in a strategic way? It is popular now for the media to talk Green. To that end, advertisers will do anything they can to jump on the Green bandwagon. In this episode you will learn how to spot Green spin and Green washing from a mile away. Join me in this hour long podcast as I speak with Mary Burrows, Head Chemist at Thetford Corporation. Read more  Read More →

Go Leaf Peeping Now, Before It’s Too Late

Ahhh, wonderful fall. The waning warmth from the sun brings a welcome chill from summer heat, migrating birds start heading to their southern range, and deciduous hardwoods begin turning red, orange, and yellow heralding the leaf peeping season. Sugar maples give up the green for eye-popping reds, orange and brown tones come to the stately oaks, and white-barked aspens put on a display of vivid yellows and golds. But if its aspens that trigger your camera finger, take your pictures now, as aspens from Arizona to Colorado to Idaho are falling by the tens of thousands. Read more  Read More →

Are We the Anchor to Mainstreaming Electric Vehicles?

Axeon electric vehicle By Bob Difley On Wednesday, 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm that there was a consensus among scientists on the validity of global warming. They cited melting ice caps and the world’s oceans this past summer hitting their highest monthly recorded temperatures. On Thursday the Pew Research center for the People & the Press released a poll of 1,500 adults that found that 57% believe there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth is warming up, and has been over the past few decades. But that majority figure was not seen as a positive moment to global warming believers. Why? The reason is that the percentage of people—according to the poll–believing in global warming has dropped from 77% just since 2006. That’s a 20-point drop in believers. “The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things,” said Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. “When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave.” However, half of all the respondents said they supported establishing limits on the emission of greenhouse gasses—even if it meant higher energy prices. Three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious. But, far fewer... Read more

VIDEO: Boondocking & Green RVing w/ the PowerSource 1800

Gear to Get with Brian Brawdy One of the necessities of Green RVing, boondocking & dry camping is the ability to generate power. By tapping into the free and ubiquitous energies of the sun, I’m able to go off road, off the grid while staying out longer. In this video, I look at the cutting edge technology of the PowerSource 1800. A uniquely designed solar powered generator. For more information on Brian Brawdy or Greening your RV, please visit BrianBrawdy.com  Read More →

Boondocking Podcast with Brian Brawdy & Bob Difley

by Brian Brawdy In my opening 18 months as an RVer, I have learned that the attraction, at least for me, is one of self reliance and nomadicism. The places that I have explored and the people I have encountered have only reinforced the sense of independence one cultivates while bringing the far away to their own front door. Early on I began to feel, not that I was learning this philosophy, but that I was remembering it. That adventure and exploration are latent in the human being. To that end, I started a blog called Buried Logic. Today it is my great pleasure to share with you an hour long podcast with author and fellow RVer Bob Difley. Read more  Read More →

Could this be the breakthrough electric vehicles need?

By Bob Difley Can anyone deny that the world is entering potentially one of the most disruptive periods of change in the transportation sector since the internal combustion engine was invented over 100 years ago? The activity surrounding and driving alternative energy vehicle development–hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or all electric (EV)–produces news stories everyday with words like newer, better, larger, smaller, more efficient, and breakthrough in the headlines. Auto manufacturers and venture capitalists are pouring money into technological advancement of vehicles, batteries, EV  technology, charging systems, and infrastructure.  Garage entrepreneurs and small cap tech companies are scrambling to grab a piece of what could be a very enormous pie, especially when the pie expands to include pick-up truck, delivery truck, RV, and bus size vehicles. In a step closer to realizing these goals, now IAV Automotive Engineering, a German company with facilities in Michigan, has acquired a patent for their Star Trekie EV wireless road charging system, that magically beams energy to your EV. The technology requires installing electrical conductors into roads that would generate magnetic fields which would charge an EV’s battery as it drives. RFID tags would identify your EV and bill you for the amount of energy used. This could be a game changer–if it works–and a disaster for all the companies scrambling to establish battery charging and swapping... Read more

Nickel-Lithium: The Next Battery Break Through?

By Bob Difley As electric vehicle proponents, alternative energy entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists have predicted, the development of better, more efficient batteries will give the electric vehicle (EV) industry the game changing boost it needs to change the way we think about transportation. Battery technology, which produced the successful development of the lithim-ion battery for laptop computers and then in the Tesla sports car, is now about to take the next leap forward with a battery that can be produced at lower prices but with greater capacity, meaning an increased range between charges. Well, the lower price hasn’t happened yet, but researchers have created a new generation battery by combining Nickel and Lithium to produce a battery that can store more than 3.5 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries.. This is a prime example of the payoff from the money and effort going into the development of smaller, cheaper, safer (the Nickel-Lithium batteries are less prone to burst into flames as some lithium-ion batteries in laptops have), and more powerful batteries that will deliver more miles between charges as the era of the Electrical Vehicle (EV) is knocking at the door. Other companies are developing the components that will complete the EV. One such company (Proterra) claims to deliver a full charge to lithium batteries in ten minutes, and has produced an all electric bus that also includes a regenerative braking system that they claim will capture 90% of a vehicle’s... Read more

Want to be on top of alternative energy? Learn Chinese

By Bob Difley The shift away from fossil fuels to alternative fuels like bio diesel and diesel fuel made from algae–which is now being tested in airplane jet engine–as well as the the expansion of alternative energy sources like wind and solar to power the coming electric vehicle age is exemplified by the opening of a giant solar energy center by Silicon Valley based Applied Materials, Inc. and the government’s decision to invest up to $60 billion annually in alternative energy. Wait a minute. It seems that Applied Material’s solar center will not be providing jobs and energy in Silicon Valley, or even in California–or anywhere in the USA. Instead, it will be in Xian, China. And the government’s $60 billion dollar investment in alternative energy, that’s the Chinese government, not the one in Washington, D.C. Not only is China where the alternative energy action is, but analysts predict that in as little as two years China will be the world’s largest consumer of solar energy.  And by 2013 their clean technology sector could top one trillion dollars annually. “If the US doesn’t get serious, China’s going to own this industry,” says a spokesman from Applied Materials. “The get that these are the industries of the 21st century,” says Silicon Valley tech investor Alan Salzman (whose investments include Tesla Motors, BrightSource Energy, and Solazyme). “The level of support for green tech there... Read more

Green Tea: A Natural Alternative to Sugary Sodas

By Lynn Difley If you are looking for an alternative to soda, diet soda, or sugary beverage, I have a great idea for you–green tea. If you haven’t discovered the many benefits of drinking green tea, let me go through just some of the reasons you will want to switch from sugar-laden sodas, and make yourself a cup of tea–green tea that is. Green tea has been around for centuries, mainly in the orient where its positive health benefits are accepted. Green tea is the second most popular beverage consumed in the world (behind water). The health benefits of green tea are mainly due to polyphenols, which are antioxidants. These substances scavenge free radicals, (damaging compounds in the body that can alter cells and cause cell death). Free radicals are thought to contribute to the aging process as well as the development of such health problems as cancer and heart disease. The polyphenols in green tea can neutralize free radicals and reduce or even prevent some of the damage they cause. Studies have mixed results but some of the more positive findings are that green tea may help prevent arteriosclerosis, or coronary artery disease. Research has shown that green tea lowers total cholesterol and raises the HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) in animals and people. Emerging clinical studies suggest that the polyphenols in green tea may play an important role in the prevention of cancer. Green tea has also been shown to be helpful in reducing the inflammation associated with... Read more

Where do Snowbirds Go Between Summer and Winter?

By Bob Difley The threat of early winter snows, sometimes arriving as early as October in the higher elevations of the Sierras, Cascades, and Coast Ranges, snowbirds, along with the feathered version of migrating birds, are starting to make plans for heading south. However, with daytime temps still topping 100 degrees in the lower desert snowbird roosts like the Coachella Valley in California, and the lower Colorado River, Phoenix, and Tucson areas of Arizona, you might want to consider heading for one of the high deserts for a month or so. Read more  Read More →

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