Earth-friendly escapades: sustainable road trip ideas

We love the vanlife! But, admittedly: The production and fuel consumption of a van spews tons of greenhouse gases into the air. That's why we took a look at how we can travel more sustainably by bus.

Our driving style has a direct impact on the environment. Driving slowly, shifting gears correctly - up at around 2000, down at 1000 to 1500 revs - that's what matters! Downhill, use gravity and tailwind, and when it gets steep: Use engine braking, i.e. shift into first or second gear. All this saves fuel and thus emissions. According to the German Federal Environment Agency, driving in this way can save more than 400 euros and emit 700 kilograms less climate-damaging CO2 (at 25 percent fuel savings, 15,000 kilometers/year, eight liters/100 kilometers, 1.40 euros/liter).

What applies to home ownership or rental property also applies to the camper: insulation saves energy. With good insulation, we need to heat or cool less. Use natural materials for the coach instead of toxic adhesives and composites. Suitable insulation and heat storage materials are cork, hemp or sheep's wool. Specialized finishing companies like campermanufaktur.org in Berlin can even spray on cork.

Let's face it: most of the year the camper is just standing around. Why not share it and rent it out? By the way, we can also earn a little bit for the travel fund. It works similar to Airbnb: You place the car on a portal and determine when it is available. Before each booking, you have the option to decline. The insurance is handled by the platform. Good addresses for camper sharing are paulcamper.de, shareacamper.com, yescapa.de, campanda.de or erento.com.

We can generate our own electricity on the road, for example with a solar panel from solarpowersupply.de - for mounting on the roof or for setting up on a green field. With a water filter, for example from www.naturewater.eu, we can also produce our own drinking water (caution: heavily contaminated water, for example from a dead animal further upstream, remains undrinkable even with a water filter).

The alternator is defective? The carburetor needs to be replaced? The gearbox needs to be replaced? Three times: No! Many special parts can be overhauled, information about this can be found in camper forums - and the parts for example here: getriebedienst-altona.de (Hamburg), vergaser-manufaktur.com (Rimbach). Wagenteile.de offers alternator service (only for rear engine VW).

This text first appeared in the WALDEN Magazine.