History Commons^™

Lessons From A Forgotten Fuel: Assessing The Long History Of Alcohol Fuel Advocacy And Use In The United States, Jeffrey T. Manuel

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Debates over biofuels, especially ethanol and biodiesel, in the twenty-first century rarely consider the long history of producing and consuming biofuels in the United States. This article assesses that long history of industrially produced biofuels in the United States. First, the article periodizes a century and a half of biofuels into six distinct eras: (1) the camphene era (1830s-1860s) when alcohol was used for illumination, (2) the early automobile era (1900-1920) when alcohol was pitted against gasoline in internal combustion engines, (3) the rural development era (1920s-1930s) when alcohol fuels were promoted to help struggling farmers, (4) the energy crisis …