There’s a relatively unheard revolution happening in the bus and motorcoach luxury conversion industry. Recently, there have been reports of major entertainers running their crew/band buses and motorhomes on alternative fuels. This is a step in the right direction for the environment of Mother Earth. Typically, the alternative fuels are used in a diesel powered bus or motorhome. One method is to convert crop based oils into biodiesel via a relatively simple chemical conversion. Another method is to use simple vegetable oil (SVO  - inventor Diesel’s first engine ran on peanut oil). The SVO method usually requires a dual fuel tank and other mechanical enhancements to work properly. Both methods provide a more carbon dioxide neutral emissions profile due to the crop based source of the alternative fuel.

Aside from the main diesel engine, there appears a number of other areas where both environmentally sound and energy efficient technologies could be employed in a bus or motorhome to achieve a much more eco-friendly experience and, perhaps, even enhance the luxury of the experience. In almost all bus conversions and motorhomes, a propane or gasoline powered generator is utilized to provide AC electricity to the vehicle in situations where direct connect to an electric utility is not feasible. There are a small, but growing number of manufacturers producing portable fuel cell generators. Fuel cells produce almost no emissions and almost no sound in operation. Furthermore, the prices of the fuel cell generators are slowly falling as the technology matures and are now in a not too onerous price range.

The interior lighting and outside indicator lamps should all be converted to light emitting diode (LED) technology. This may be a little pricey up front, but with lifetimes of 50,000 to 100,000 hours of operation and energy usage about a tenth for equivalent lumens (i.e. light output), the long term economics and environmental consequenses are a no-brainer.

One reason we don’t see solar panels on standard passenger car rooftops is the usually limited area available. This is not the case with bus and motorhome rooftops, even if many have air conditioning exhausts occupying some of the available area. Newer and lighter solar panels could be employed to enhance the usually separate interior battery system for charging during daylight hours.