Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century
David Blume'sAlcohol Can Be a Gas1is the most comprehensive and understandable book on renewable fuels ever compiled. Over a quarter century in the making, the book explains the history, technology, and even the sociology of renewable fuels in a fashion that can be appreciated by the most accomplished in the ethanol and biodiesel fields, as well as the novice and young students of the issues.Blume summarizes the history of ethanol from the Whiskey Rebellion to the 2007 Energy Bill now pending before the U.S. Congress. His history also includes the century-old struggle between ethanol advocates, such as Henry Ford (who preferred ethanol to petroleum and produced the first Flex-Fuel Vehicle) and his arch nemesis, John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil (who actually funded the temperance movement to enact Prohibition in order to eliminate his competition for motor fuel). He also exposes the great myths about ethanol, telling who conceived them and why they did.Blume's step-by-step instructions can help anyone build an ethanol plant (from a few hundred gallons to a hundred million gallons per year) or convert your car into an alternative fuel vehicle. Blume explains that ethanol does not need to be a corn-only, Midwestern industry and that there are hundreds of crops in every state of the Union from which we can make renewable fuels.The book has hundreds of illustrations, charts, and diagrams to make his points, including some of the most humorous, entertaining and provocative cartoons likely to be found anywhere. The extensive two-dozen page glossary provides an excellent reference on all energy-related subjects.I have personally worked in the renewable energy sector in one form or another for close to four decades, and I can recommendAlcohol Can Be a Gas!as the best book I have ever read on the subject. You will laugh out loud at his sharp wit and the dozens of cartoons. But when you finish reading Dave's book, you will have a much better understanding of how our nation's energy policy evolved, why it is what it is today, and what needs to be done for the future.The petroleum age is only about one hundred years old, a tiny blip on the history of mankind, and, according to many experts, it is over half over. It is time to review the [alternative] energy systems of the past, biomass, ethanol, wind, solar, if we are to understand our future energy independence. David Blume's Alcohol Can Be a Gas is a must-read to prepare anyone for this critical endeavor. --Larry Mitchell, CEO, American Corn Growers Association<br /><br />Everything you wanted to know about alcohol-fuel production but were afraid to ask. More than 20 years ago, veteran biofuel guru Blume (Alcohol Can Be a Gas!,1983) beat the drum for alcohol-based alternative fuels. Blume's latest book is a well researched and expanded update to his original work, incorporating 21st-century concerns over global warming, domestic-energy policy, grassroots biofuel solutions, and the challenges of going green in a world dominated by the fossil fuel "oiligarchy."Blume systematically and entertainingly builds his case for individual responsibility and activism in dealing with the nation's domestic-energy challenges, and he excludes no one in preaching his gospel of alcohol-fuel independence. For the novice, Blume tells the story of alcohol production's rich history in America, from the Civil War to today, and effectively demystifies the thorny pros and cons of the current national energy-policy debate regarding ethanol. This education alone is worth the cover price.Make no mistake, the book is more than a bully pulpit for championing sociopolitical opinions on global-energy woes; it is a technical how-to book. Written with enterprising do-it-yourselfers in mind, Blume offers countless hands-on technical soluti --Ernest Callenbach, Author ofEcotopiaDavid Blume'sAlcohol Can Be a Gas1is the most comprehensive and understandable book on renewable fuels ever compiled.  Over a quarter century in the making, the book explains the history, technology, and even the sociology of renewable fuels in a fashion that can be appreciated by the most accomplished in the ethanol and biodiesel fields, as well as the novice and young students of the issues.Blume summarizes the history of ethanol from the Whiskey Rebellion to the 2007 Energy Bill now pending before the U.S. Congress.  His history also includes the century-old struggle between ethanol advocates, such as Henry Ford (who preferred ethanol to petroleum and produced the first Flex-Fuel Vehicle) and his arch nemesis, John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil (who actually funded the temperance movement to enact Prohibition in order to eliminate his competition for motor fuel).  He also exposes the great myths about ethanol, telling who conceived them and why they did.Blume's step-by-step instructions can help anyone build an ethanol plant (from a few hundred gallons to a hundred million gallons per year) or convert your car into an alternative fuel vehicle.  Blume explains that ethanol does not need to be a corn-only, Midwestern industry and that there are hundreds of crops in every state of the Union from which we can make renewable fuels.The book has hundreds of illustrations, charts, and diagrams to make his points, including some of the most humorous, entertaining and provocative cartoons likely to be found anywhere.  The extensive two-dozen page glossary provides an excellent reference on all energy-related subjects.I have personally worked in the renewable energy sector in one form or another for close to four decades, and I can recommendAlcohol Can Be a Gas!as the best book I have ever read on the subject.  You will laugh out loud at his sharp wit and the dozens of cartoons.  But when you finish reading Dave's book, you will have a much better understanding of how our nation's energy policy evolved, why it is what it is today, and what needs to be done for the future.The petroleum age is only about one hundred years old, a tiny blip on the history of mankind, and, according to many experts, it is over half over.  It is time to review the [alternative] energy systems of the past, biomass, ethanol, wind, solar, if we are to understand our future energy independence.  David Blume's Alcohol Can Be a Gas is a  must-read  to prepare anyone for this critical endeavor. --Larry Mitchell, CEO, American Corn Growers AssociationThe overarching importance of this delightful book is that it demonstrates how beside the point is the current pseudo-debate about the net energy from corn ethanol. As Blume demonstrates, fuel alcohol must be an important component of our solar-based future. It can be made from a huge variety of feedstocks, including sugar beets and cane, nuts, mesquite, Jerusalem artichokes, algae, even coffee-bean pulp; there is no real scarcity of land to grow fuel. There is a scarcity of independent, original thinking, and Blume's book provides plenty of it, along with ample doses of amazing, startling, and sometimes scary information, ecological, technological, and political-economic.This is a vast, detailed compendium drawn from decades of experience by an alert, smart, and skeptical hands-on thinker. Blume has given us his biofuels bible, and we can learn from him and survive quite nicely, or follow what he calls MegaOilron into oblivion. --Ernest Callenbach, Author ofEcotopia