Eco-Driving

In 2007, I met a Japanese aritist who lived in a car here on Kauai.  He worked very minimum hours at the farm and sometimes at the restaurant in order to buy gasoline and food .  And for the rest of hours, he was enjoying surfing and painting while moving around the island.  His car was actually very old but inside car, it was amazing there were Nikon F5, DSLR camera and Macintosh computer with Adobe Illustrator and photoshop.  He showed me everything that he needed to enjoy his life here on this island.  I was very impressed by his mimimu necessary items.  I imagined he was happier because he owned the less.   The more belongings we have, the more worries.   The less belongins we have, the less worries!   Although he was young, he knew the way for him to be happy. Later, he came to our temple to stay and I was lucky to learn some survival skills from him.  One of the useful knowledge was Echo-driving. Before he taught me, I never looked at tachometer but I nderstood tachometer was so important for the efficient drive.

I wonder do you check it?

Please look at the picture above.   When you step on the accelerator, the numbers of tachometer go up.  The stronger you hit the accelerator, the numbers of running engine would go up higher.   This means much more gasoline would be used. 

Then he told me, do not hit the accelerator but gently press it.    The most efficient gas consumption will be done around 2 at tachometer.  To maintain the engine speed is a key for echo-driving. 

Another thing for echo-driving is to run engine only when you need to drive.   Many people start engine as soon as they get in the car.  Then they fasten their seat belts.  However, the longer you run engine, the more gasoline your car would consume.   So starting engine should be the last thing when you are about to drive.   

Needless to say, it's very tiny thing to do.  Lots of people don't care it because it's such a small thing.  But no matter how big number it may be, it consists of "tiny unit."  If you do tiny thing a little by little, then you'll get something big.

In fact, I was able to buy expensive camera because I was super  good at saving money.   It's very hard to get more money but if we can use wisdom and savy skill, we can save lots of money and it's very fun!