A Review by Randy White

America, if you are tired of high prices for fuel, food, and just about everything else, boy do I have the book for you. David Blume's "Alcohol Can Be A Gas" is an easy to comprehend "How To" manual for getting America back on track to prosperity.

'Alcohol Can Be A Gas' reveals of so many energy industry secrets, I'm surprised the author hasn't been hauled off to a secret prison in Poland by oil company mercenaries. For over twenty-five years, Blume has meticulously gathered information that will make any reader realize just how much Americans have been duped into spending their income to support a food and energy system dependent on fossil fuel inputs. He brings you the entire history of alcohol fuel, from Henry Ford to present day. The best part is that he offers every reader the chance to enhance local living, free themselves from oil, make money, help slow global warming, and stop the war machine.

Skeptical? I was. As a member of Portland Oregon's Peak Oil Task Force and peak oil expert, I know enough about Peak Oil to know "Alcohol Can Be A Gas" is a top solution to solving our challenges. What I have learned along my peak oil journey is that alcohol fuel is a robust solution that will solve much more than bringing gas prices back to earth. Will it solve all our energy problems? Probably not. But in a sea of energy despair, it is an excellent plan to follow.

As an alcohol fuel expert, ecologist, permaculturist, and farmer, Blume writes: "Rest assured, there is enough land to produce solar energy in many forms, including alcohol, for a world that makes energy-efficient design a priority. We can have a large cooperative cellulose distillery in each county, producing ethanol and biomass electricity to keep our essential services running. We can have small integrated farms that produce fuel, food, and building materials. We can eat well on locally produced food and locally processed products. We can even cogenerate electricity and hot water at our homes, if we are clever enough."

Want some sample eye openers? Here are a few stunners you'll learn in "Alcohol Can Be A Gas":

- That oil companies make over $25,000 in profit from a single barrel of oil (They pay about $75 per barrel as of this writing)

- How gasoline is never the same mixture two days in a row - it's just the mix of toxic chemicals are left over from oil refining - and you pay for it to fuel your car.

- That every alcohol plant can provide its own energy

- Step-by-step instructions for making alcohol fuel, from start to finish

- That between 1968 and 2000, oil companies received US subsidies of nearly $150 Billion, while ethanol got a measly $116 million

- How as many as 26 million jobs could be created - ensuring full employment for America

The book has it all: Astonishing secrets that have been hidden from the public, such as a real plan for energy independence, methods for empowering local communities, and much more. Blume dismantles propagated myths spread through the media about ethanol, and shows us why alcohol does NOT require more energy to process than is made from the fuel (it has a positive EROEI). Blume handholds the reader and empowers them with the knowledge to create a clean, plentiful, and renewable energy source. He explains ways to diversify fuel crops. He also backs up his information with meticulous notes and references, daring anyone in the energy or agricultural business to challenge him. (I hope he gets to debate some "experts" that the mainstream media always interviews, namley David Pimentel.)

What David Blume does not advocate is that we can continue our present energy use, which has led to a culture of consumption and waste. What is clear is that the structure of society is changing, and none of us can predict with 100% accuracy what the crystal ball holds as peak oil kicks in. What we do know, however, is that there will be many shocked people, unaware of just how large the issue of energy depletion is, until it hits them personally. That is why before Americans feel the urge to reach for pitchforks and torches, they should own a copy of "Alcohol Can Be A Gas".

Order your own copy of "Alcohol Can Be A Gas" here.