David Blume is an American
permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...
teacher and entrepreneur. He is an advocate for production of ethanol fuel, especially at local, small and medium scales.
Major work
Blume is the author of ''Alcohol Can Be A Gas!'', a review of the history of alcohol used as a fuel, together with an extensive investigation of how to produce alcohol fuel from different crops, using a variety of tools and techniques, and with an explanation of relevant laws and industry practices. The focus of the book is on how to set up and run crops and facilities for local
ethanol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...
use, as opposed to large-scale industrial or commercial use.
The book was originally written in 1983 for release with ''
Alcohol as Fuel'', a 10-episode how-to series on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...
produced by
KQED in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. Copies of the original book and TV series, which was only aired on KQED, have since been nearly impossible to obtain. The book was rewritten and expanded to 640 pages over several years and re-released with the same title on November 1, 2007.
Blume's primary insight follows from that of
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing m ...
, who wrote the foreword to the book in 1983: that alcohol (or
ethanol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...
) is a renewable variety of solar energy in liquid form, the cultivation of which can enhance soils, be used as a minimally- or non-polluting fuel, and enable farmers and individuals at large to make fuel locally.
Other projects
At one time or another Blume has been involved in the following projects.
* Employed by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
(1978), at an experimental solar self-sufficient energy, sewage treatment,
desalinization
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Saltw ...
plant in the
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geology, geologically and biogeography, biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Ric ...
.
* Employed by
Mother Earth News
''Mother Earth News'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that has a circulation of 500,520 . It is published in Topeka, Kansas.
Since its founding, ''Mother Earth News'' has promoted renewable energy, recycling, family farms, good agricultural ...
Eco Village in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
, part of team practicing
alternative building techniques.
* Founder, American Homegrown Fuel Co., an educational organization teaching farmers and others how to produce and use alcohol fuel.
* Founder, Planetary Movers Inc (1984).
* Board member, field worker, Ecosites International.
* Board member, field worker, Vivamos Mejor (1990).
* Board member, Committee for Sustainable Agriculture (aka Ecological Farming Association).
* Executive director,
Hidden Villa
Hidden Villa is a United States nonprofit educational organization teaching programs on environmental and multicultural awareness. In 1924, Frank and Josephine Duveneck founded this working organic farm and wilderness area on land comprising th ...
Farm and Wilderness Preserve.
* Founder (1993), executive director, International Institute for Ecological Agriculture,
Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a p ...
.
* Founder, Our Farm, a
CSA
CSA may refer to:
Arts and media
* Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
* Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics
* Crime Syndicate of Amer ...
formerly in
Woodside, CA
Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside is among the wealthiest communities in the United States, home to many technology billionaires and investment manager ...
.
See also
*
Alcohol fuel
Various alcohols are used as fuel for internal combustion engines. The first four aliphatic alcohols ( methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol)
are of interest as fuels because they can be synthesized chemically or biologically, and they have ...
*
Ethanol fuel
Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. The first production car running entirely on ethanol was t ...
*
Food vs fuel
Food versus fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production to the detriment of the food supply. The biofuel and food price debate involves wide-ranging views, and is a long-standing, controversia ...
Bibliography
* ''Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century'' (with editor Michael Winks; International Institute for Ecological Agriculture; November 1, 2007)
* ''Alcohol Can Be A Gas!'' (Planetary Energy Productions/Golden Gate Productions; 1983) ASIN B001E39L8Y
"Food and Permaculture" a defense of permaculture by Blume
External links
Permaculture.com, David Blume's main websiteExtended autobiographyReview of ''ACBAG'' by Matthew Stein"'Farmer Dave' talks up permaculture" ''
Daily Illini
''The Daily Illini'', commonly known as the ''DI'', is a student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1871. Weekday circulation during fall and spring semesters is 7,000; co ...
'' (March 10, 2003)
Kirkus review of ''Alcohol Can Be a Gas''
Interviews and lectures
David Blume lecturing at Portland Peak OilShort interview with David Blume on KPTV* Interview on Wisconsin Public Radio with John Munson
, 1o
, 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blume, David
Living people
American gardeners
Permaculturalists
Sustainability advocates
Year of birth missing (living people)