Gasifier Experimenters Kit

Biomass Energy Foundation: MethanolBecome aMemberof theBiomassEnergyFoundationUnfortunately the oil and motor industry was less thanenthusiastic. A few months later a grant of $1,000,000was given to the MIT Energy Laboratory. We wereinformed that the oil companies were the real experts inthis field and so the permission to run the tests wasrevoked after we had spent 6 months and $50,000developing our test methods.In 1975, SCIENCE sent a reporter, Allen L. Hammond, toMIT to investigate the project cancellation. Sciencepublished a news article 1 , "Methanol at MIT: IndustryInfluence Charged in Project Cancellation", (vol 190, p.761, November 1975).It is interesting - and fruitless - to speculate on how historymight have been different if the US had developed anaggressive synthetic fuel program in the 1970s. The threatof alternate production from gas, coal or biomass wouldhave tempered future rises in oil prices and reduced ourfunding of the Near East oil sheikhs. It would haveprevented the Iran-Iraq war and the US Iraq wars and theterrorist attacks and 9-11 and saved thousands of life; itwould have also saved millions of dollars. And we wouldhave a much better estimate of the cost and means ofproducing the alternate fuels that we will need as the oilruns out."Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these"It might have been" (Whittier)Now, 30 years later and facing another presidentialelection, we can hope that we can develop a sensibleenergy policyhttp://www.woodgas.com/methanol.htm (2 of 5) [10/9/2008 08:23:07]