I drive an SUV. It's ten years old, not exactly the most fuel-efficient vehicle in the world. Filling a 20-gallon tank costs around fifty bucks a pop.
I'd certainly like to consider getting a new(er) vehicle that is more fuel efficient. But considering that I do have a legitimate need to haul around things like building equipment and filmmaking equipment. Not every day, but quite often. Most of the time, I'm driving to and from work.
Ideally, I'd have two vehicles. One would be a high-mileage urban vehicle that would be good for taking back roads to work (it's around a 14-mile trip one way). Something that would be good in inclement weather, so a bicycle or motorcycle has some gain but doesn't solve the bigger problem. And I'm not exactly in shape enough to be
Of course, there's that whole having to buy a second vehicle thing. I might be able to squeeze in a bicycle in the next couple of months, but I'm certainly not going to be able to afford a motorcycle or another car (not to mention the insurance).
And then fall comes, and I'm back to winter driving in the SUV.
I don't have the tens of thousands of dollars it would take to competely reinsulate the house. I'd love to. I'd also like to do things like deep drilling for thermal stability, and active or passive solar.
The cost is prohibitive.
I do drive less. Aside from the back-and-forth to work, I try to limit anything else to what's necessary, and plan routes for errands to optimize what I can do. I've replaced many lights in the house with compact fluorescent bulbs.
I'd really love to telecommute. There is really nothing technologically that makes it imperative that I am actually on location at work, except for times that I'm working on hard equipment. I write software, and I can write just as easily at home. Unfortunately, the corporate culture does not cotton to telecommuting; they want face time. They want to see you in a chair from 9-5. I may try to see if I can shift to a four-day week and save a day, but being away from Sadie for that long is a bit iffy.
Assuming that we're never going to see low gas prices again, what kind of stuff are you doing or do you plan to do to compensate? Anything?