About ten years ago, Ty Adams asked himself a question that became an obsession. How do you make RVs green? The question led him to quit his job at an RV magazine, sell his house, and build his first green RV, the biofueled BioTrekker. Adams now works as a freelance writer, but is still involved with green RVs. He volunteers as an adviser to SolTrekker, another biodiesel RV and environmental program on wheels. The non-profit that operates it, also called SolTrekker, uses the RV as a sustainable showroom, exhibiting solar systems and renewable materials. Adams’s projects are exciting because RVs are notorious for their carbon footprint. He found ways to turn this symbol of excess into one of sustainability.

The SolTrekker boasts some labor intensive projects like a biodiesel engine, a solid waste compost system, and a rainwater catchment/grey water collection unit. But what can RV owners do today, in a couple of hours, at minimal cost? We asked Adams to share some tips for RVers just starting to green up. It turns out you can do a lot of things without a huge expense or technical know-how.