Alcohol Fueled Automobiles
Sometimes not knowing what you are talking about can be fun. When you say what you would have done, you don’t have to face the consequences. When you speculate about the past, all you do is produce food for thought. This can be a tasty snack, or gluttonous indigestion.
There is a radio show/podcast called 99 percent invisible. It is facilitated by Roman Mars, who went to grad school in Athens GA. Last year, another podcaster interviewed him. In the resulting audio tract, the lady asked Mr. Mars if there was anything he would like to redesign. A light bulb went on in PG’s head.
When the motorcar was being developed, there was a question on how to fuel it. At the time, America was in the grip of a temperance movement. It was feared that if automobiles were fueled by alcohol, then there would be a still on every street corner. At some point, the decision was made to use gasoline. At the time, gasoline was the useless byproduct of refining crude oil into kerosene.
So it goes. The world went on the path of fossil fuel consumption. The cost to mankind, in terms of wars and environment damage, has been staggering. What if we could go back, and choose a different path for the motorized vehicle?
If laboratories were to research the uses of alcohol fuel, maybe they could find a way to make it more powerful. Even if they didn’t, and people were accustomed to cars that did not go as fast, maybe the roads would be safer. There are possible down sides, but you only learn about them as you go down the path. Often there is no going back.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This feature is written like Chuck Palahniuk.
Chamblee54 
Some people have been successful in fueling their cars with used frying grease or used cooking oil, they’ve converted their cars to run this way…Interesting ideas here.
I think too many rich people are invested in fossil fuels for their to be a change in car fuel. It’s not that we can’t do it, it’s that it’s not profitable to change things… gotta love capitalism.
A powerful message here.
Nearly all the possible fuels have their own environmental issues, unfortunately. Hopefully we’ll come up with something that will really work for us over the long haul.
I’ve heard a lot about used cooking oil as fuel for cars. Great thought-provoking piece and terrific pictures.
Alternate energy sources, we should have been thinking about it 40 years ago. Nothing lasts forever.