Have you considered using a wood stove and sustaining a woodlot for your heating? Seems up your alley. I ran the numbers and it seemed like making traditional income investments to cover energy bills would require less capital. But it’s a lot easier to accurately calculate how much woodlot to buy than predict future energy costs and investment returns.

Since you’re looking at RVs you might consider relocating every season to stay in an area where you don’t need climate control. I grew up near ski resorts and their summers were cheap (off season) and cool (mountains). I bet there’s an equivalently cheap and warm winter spot.

We too heat with wood. Our electric bill is generally under $150 in the winter — but keep in mind that I often have 4-5 250W heat lamps running and 4 1500W stock tank heaters!

We pay for the wood heat with physical labor — not a bad thing 🙂 We have gone to having a load of logs delivered here for us to cut and split rather than going up into the woods and getting it ourselves. We help our neighbors who sell the logs, and we save the gas and time running back and forth getting loads.

Our summer bill is low — in the $50-60 range. Especially if I keep up on hanging my laundry 🙂

My rent includes all utilities, so I keep my apt at 83 in the winter and 70 in the summer, and dont pay a cent for it.

I have a Country Flame wood stove for heating my home, and it does the whole house of 2200 sq feet, and I have it ducted into my central heating fan where I can run that on “fan only” and spread the woodstove heat throughout the house. Delivered firewood is $75.00 a rick so I dont buy any. I have land and chain saw so I fetch my own. We had an ice storm last January, which caused loss of trees, and though my labor I netted about two cords of firewood. However I live in an apartment through the week, so I have to keep the thermostat at 55 degrees F so I dont risk freezeups. My apartment utilities are free so that is not any factor in my heating costs, as I manage the complex and get that as part of my compensation. If I were at home 24/7, in winter months, I would only incur labor costs for my heating. Many people have no options but to lower their thermostats and put on warm layers to hold down costs. This is cutting into their fixed costs of living heavily and there is not a good answer for someone in a city home or apartment where alternative heating process cannot be installed. That is one reason (just one of many) I would never live where I could adjust my surroundings to save money, especially in some urban setting.