We’ve had a few people ask about the electric car we keep alluding to in posts.

Where possible, we put our money where our mouth is. So while not wishing to be a walking billboard: we are leasing a Tesla Model 3 which over time will set us back approx $70k AUS + interest. We say this specifically as many people think a good electric car (or teslas) must cost over $100k. They don’t have to.

We are leasing it both for tax and cashflow reasons. To date are finding that the money we save on fuel costs and maintenance helps significantly with offsetting the car payments (how much is diesel at the moment anyway?) We chose the car as we believe it to be the best value for a car with its range and which our budget could sustain. That is, there are few competitors cars which will get us over 350km real world range on the freeway (further in traffic or at slower speeds)

It’s not a single magic decision – ie no single decision solves all the worlds ills. It’s more a series of choices which we try to continue to be make over years, to adjust the direction our lives would otherwise take us.

When we lived in inner suburbs in Brisbane, we sold our car and chose to walk, ride and take public transport to work and live. Including running our own business. This was a more sustainable choice than that we are currently making. But similarly the choice we are currently making is more sustainable than where we would otherwise be – ie having 2 petrol / diesel cars.

Over time, we’ve tried to reduce our carbon footprint both for work and life.

By using the 1 car for both purposes we are moving further in that direction, and saving money to pay for the 1 car. By choosing our new office location (yay, new office!) to be near to kids schools – we can make sense of the daily commute. This cuts down both our miles in cars, and school traffic.

We are lucky to have our own home, with solar PV’s on that. With a home battery it means we can charge the car as much as possible from that solar to control the source of its power and step towards being carbon neutral through work and life.

It also means that over time we can progressively add more solar, to take control of our energy use and energy costs for work and home.

Currently we figure the money spent on solar services will more than pay for themselves over the warranty period. We are happy with that.

Each of us must make these choices in our own lives to suit our own circumstances. The important thing, we believe – is to choose to act to the extent we each can.

It’s quite amazing to live at a time when for many of us it IS a valid choice to have our home and transport largely driven by the sun.

So if we build an inefficient home or business, or one without planning for these services, or buy a petrol car without comparing it to an electric one – we are still making a choice, just one of emissions.

#architectsdeclare
#ptmaarchitecture
#carbonneutral
#sustainabledesign
#sustainableliving
#tesla
#model3
#goldcoastarchitecture