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Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Do you have a wood stove?
If you have a a wood stove and source the fuel from your back yard or from down the street that's about as sustainable as you can get.
For air conditioning you can get very efficient mini splits and just cool one or 2 rooms. This summer it looks like me and my wife are both working night shift so we will leave the central AC off most days and just run the split in the bedroom during the day.
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We're in the process of moving to a new house with plenty of trees to be cleared on the property. The house came with a fireplace in the living room and an old coal/wood stove in the garage. We currently keep the house at 60 degrees F in the winter - so I think we'll actually be able to stay warmer AND save more money with the addition of wood heat.
I'm a sucker for air conditioning, but last year we were able to get by with a single window unit in the living room. No central AC at our old house or the new one, but we're considering a split-level system.
I could talk all day about how we optimize our heat/AC usage in our house... don't get me started! Nice to know there are other like-minded people here though.
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A lot of times you can replace a pickup with a car and trailer.
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We've thought about the car + trailer idea before, but as we took on more and more projects we determined we needed a pickup with an 8' bed for the amount of material we're moving. Even with the truck there are situations where we have to rent/borrow a trailer. I nearly hyperventilate when I think about the 10-12 mpg I'm getting, and with a 36 gallon fuel tank I dread filling it up.
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Originally Posted by redpoint5
Good introductory post and welcome.
I don't think the minor things matter much, like losing speed going up a hill, or especially accelerating slowly. Engines are most efficient at loads around 70% anyhow. The main thing is to drive in such a way that you can minimize brake use, and to simply drive a slower average speed. The rest are details.
The Mazda 3 was on my list for a while due to the sporty nature and incredibly good MPG. I remember lusting after SkyActiv technology when it was first introduced.
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I think I've got the basics down - I've always tried to minimize brake use just to make the brakes last longer. Maybe I'm at a point where the details are starting to matter, or maybe my good trip yesterday was a fluke!
The 3 is a great car. Lots of fun with the standard shift, and you really don't have to try to get decent MPG. I made the monumental mistake of buying it brand-new in 2016 thinking that we would be going down to 1 vehicle (might as well make it a nice one, right?) but then everything changed. Can't bring myself to get rid of it.
Thanks for the welcome, guys!