In discussing alcohol fuels, distinctions must be made between gasohol and pure alcohol, and between ethanol and methanol. Gasohol is a mixture of alcohol and gasoline. In the U.S., the mixture usually contains 10 percent alcohol, but many cars can take mixtures of up to 20-25 percent alcohol, and with minor modifications, even more. In fact, it is not hard to modify cars to run on pure alcohol, as racing cars do. Ethanol is drinking alcohol, and methanol is the highly toxic "wood" alcohol. Ethanol _ _ __ _ _ _ ...............~ i1'p'iJEi:'sw&iWl ' I~~~~~~Iiift~ is commonly made by fermenting almost any source of non-woody biomass. The starch molecules in the biomass are broken down to sugar, which is fermented to alcohol. Methanol is made by "pyrolizing" wood or coal, heating it at high temperature and pressure, so that is releases a variety of gasesf:;:.:;:;:;:;:;:; and liquids. One of the gases is then converted to methanol. Both methanol and =~:~:~:.~f.:~~:~:~:~~;;;,u itllllililiffi1 rh:~::g~.David Holzman, editor of People ~Il~~~I~~~~~~~mmmmmll RAIN does n't happen to Itav~ a resident Alcohol Fuels Expert (all I know about alcohol production is that my gra ndfat her sllpposedly died from a bad bn/cll of his own brew-Grandma carried on Ih e business for many yea rs ), so in recom mending information fo r you to study we're slicking Ihis montll to the freebIes. The mformafion we've compiled is due in large pa rt to Deanna Nord. Dennna. during an internship with the Minnesota Energy Agency, had compiled a reference list and bibliography Otl gasohol. When she npplied to illtern here at RAIN we {ls ked her to do a similar search for liS. The results are git.ing us the opportunity to study the whole business ourselves , and we' ll be letting you know what we learn. Thank you, Dl'anna. -cc The Energy Consumer, Jan. 1980, from: DOE Office of Consumer Affairs Room8G082 Washington, DC 20585 Descriptions of policy, hIstory, economics, resources in each state, and other publications make this issue of the Energy Consumer the most up-to-date SOUTce fo r alcohol fuels information. To complement rhis, the DOE is operating mil- fT C-I? lines you can call for more specifics. 1/800/533-5333, 11 800/535-2840, in Louisiana 11800/3532870. Facts About Gasohol, and 11te Reading List, from: Solar Information Data Bank SERI 1617 Cole Boulevard Golden, CO 80401 oncise, even terse, glossy overview of gasohol. As it states, this is just the basic facIS, no "how-to," more " why-to." I . " oglst.r ,., ineffectlvenes~ , namely, a complete surrender of one's most basic ideals and goals. "Power" is gained at the cost of losing the only power we really have that can change this insane society-our moral integrity, our ideals, and our principles. This may be a festive occasion for careerists who have used the ecology issue to a,dvance their stardom and personal. fortunes; it would become the obituary of a movement that has, latent within itse.lf, the Ideals of a new Bookchin world in which masses become individuals and natural resources cont. become nature, both to be respected for their uniqueness and spirituality. _ ~ An ecologically oriented feminist movement is now emerging and the contours of the libertarian anti-nuke alliances still eX.lst. The fUSing of the two together with new movements that are likely to emerge from the varied crises of our times lTIay open one of the most exdting and Hberating decades of our cenrory. Neither sexAlcohol Fuels, an annotated bibliographyfrom: National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) P.O. Box 3838 BuUe, MT 59701 Everyone we asked for information referred us to Scott Sklar and Jim Kerstetter's bibliography. Like most every other bibliography, it has become quickly dated, but they intend to revise it. In the meantime it's still an excell ent place to begin. Fuel from Farms, a guide to small-scale ethanol (grain alcohol) production, from: DOE P.O. Box 62 Oak Ridge, TN 37830 William Hedrick, a consulting engineer who builds alcohol plants, suggests that this publication may be "the best summary treatm('Jlt of the field." "There are," he adds, "still some shortcomings, such as the need for a directory of manttfacturers of the equipment. "
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