Economic or economical?

Economic and economical are adjectives.

We use economic to mean ‘related to trade, industry or money’:

• The economic forecast for next year is not good.
• The President spoke mostly about economic policy.

We use economical to mean ‘not using a lot of money’:

• Hybrid cars are very economical. (They do not cost a lot of money to run.)
• Solar energy for your home is expensive in the short term but it is more economical in the long term.