Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century

I have David Blume's book Alcohol Can Be a Gas! and have read the book. I have a Bachelor's Degree with Honors in Physics, and a graduate degree in Engineering from U. of Ill. at Urbana-Champaign.

The book is extensive, detailed and generally appears to be quite authoritative. Mr. Blume has about 30 years of experience in this field and knew Buckminster Fuller, who wrote the Foreword for the book. Blume makes a very credible case for the widespread use of ethanol in the U.S. starting essentially now, without waiting for further developments like cellulosic ethanol. This could allow for a "democratization of fuel production," rather than control by a few mega-businesses.

Blume believes the current vehicle fleet needs little or only minor modifications to run on high concentrations of ethanol right now. I believe his contention that the petroleum industry is spreading misinformation to discredit ethanol as a viable current fuel option is credible. According to Blume the U.S. and the world are not even close to being "maxed out" in terms of capacity for renewably producing ethanol. But Blume also emphasizes the need for conservation.

His ideas regarding the large-scale viability of ethanol derived from sugar cane to improve global warming are similar to those espoused by the British billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group (see Tropical Bonanza, p. 41; according to Blume we don't have to cut down rainforest). He also describes numerous other feedstock crops that could be grown using renewable permaculture (rather than non renewable monoculture) techniques that are viable for large-scale ethanol production. A few examples are beets, sweet sorghum and non-traditional crops such as cattails (along roads and in planned wastewater treatment marshes), mesquite and buffalo gourd (cultivated in arid areas) and kelp farms (in coastal ocean areas such as coastal "deadzones").

Many may consider Blume's approach to be too simplistic and too "low tech" to be significant. "The market," they may say, "would have already embraced this approach if it was practical." But I think such a perspective is itself simplistic. Many people are now realizing the limitations of this perspective and realizing there are no real "pure markets." We live in a culture overly enamored with high technology; I see this constantly in medical practice (I am also a medical doctor). High technology is not always the best solution and such approaches frequently reflect a cultural bias toward techno-capitalism, rather than scientific or technical feasibility per se. We may, unfortunately, have to learn this the hard way. As the late libertarian economist Milton Friedman said, "Institutions don't learn, only people learn."

David Blume's ideas should definitely be taken seriously and explored further.

Excellent book, and a great resource and compilation that "pulls it all together."

However, I decline to give Blume 5 stars, due to his propagation of the myth of "global warming," the silly farce built on junk science.

Still, the book is well worth it, and there are many other wonderful reasons to use clean-burning alcohol as fuel in your vehicle.

This book has a lot of food for thought(and gas). I truly wish it could happen because we could be free of foreign oil dependence, use our own and nature's waste for fuel! The logistics could be done but the entrenchment of oil companies would never allow it. Very thought provoking with facts or data I had never heard of before, but it makes sense. Wish Henry Ford were here to fight again for the better way!

This book is the bible for using a resource that we have in endless supply to end our dependance on foreign oil, curb global warming and adapt to a new economy that will create jobs for our country. Big oil has made most people skeptics and this is not new technology or a new idea. It does work and would only be improved upon with support. Fuel would be half the present price, energy would be clean and renewable, and our agriculture system would be sustainable!

I have read this book cover to cover and it inspired me to start my own alcohol distillery. It will tell you how to convert your vehicle to E-85 which is %85 alcohol and %15 gasoline, which puts out only %13 of the harmful greehouse gases that %100 gasoline does, and only takes $1 per gallon to make and sells for about $1.50 to $2.50 all over the US. It will give you the full history of alchohol in the USA since the turn of the century. I will explain how hydrogen, coal, nuclear, and all other alternative energy sources work and why they pale in comparison to switching to alcohol. If you hate filling up your car with overpriced and planet warming gasoline then buy this book!!! It will give you the knowledge to join the alcohol revolution that is growing everyday all around the world.