Adam the Eco Warrior?

Maybe one day but I’m far from a anything close to an eco warrior right now! I’m not the kind of person to tie myself to a tree or anything like that. I am however starting to see a little more into what they’re trying to do and how I can do my bit. I’m still not going to tie myself to a tree as that’s not me. I’ll still be one of the first people to say “Chop it down. Let’s have a fire!”. What I’m talking about is reducing my consumption of resources and I’ve already started…

My car is the first place and it was merely financial. At the time I was driving stupid long distances and I needed a new car. It was obviously going to be a diesel but I wanted something that will last me a while and also me extremely cheap. It had to be diesel but not a silly small engine. Something like a 1.6 would be perfect. Not too small and not too big. Not too slow and not too fast. Just right. For the special tree hugging bit, I set my eyes on a Ford Fiesta Econetic. Very economic, the right engine size, cheap insurance and wasn’t crazily expensive. Ok, so I could have got something a little cheaper, but this was going to last me for 5 years at the very least. It was only 6 months old so no MOT for a couple of years and as it was so economic, the road tax is free. I now fill up with £50 worth of diesel once a month which if you go back to my Skyline I was doing every week!

I’m now thinking of my next car! Where will cars be in 5 years time? Battery and electric motor tech is improving each year. Prices are coming down and ranges are improving. In 5 years time I think that electric cars will be more common on the road and chances are I’ll be looking at owning one. Sure, it won’t be able to do the occasional trip to the north to see friends, but it’ll be able to go to work and maybe even my parents and back which is a 115 mile round trip. I’d certainly settle for a hybrid such as the new Toyota Prius which is for years was a bit of a joke, but the plug-in version they’ve released is now starting make more sense. I still don’t understand why it’s got a petrol engine and not a diesel which would make it more economic on longer runs… They should put the diesel engine I currently have in my Fiesta in place of the petrol one and it’ll be much better, and in 5 years it could be awesome! I think that combine improvements in battery tech, diesel engines and solar panels and it could become awesome. Now why doesn’t Ford do this with the Focus?

So like I said, far from eco warrior, but I’m thinking in the right direction.