Lessons from a forgotten fuel: assessing the long history of alcohol fuel advocacy and use in the United States

Debates over biofuels in the twenty-first century rarely consider the long history of producing and consuming biofuels. This article assesses that long history of 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 farmers, (4) the energy crisis era (1970s-1980s) when alcohol fuels extended tight fuel supplies, (5) the environmentalism era (1990s-2001) when alcohol fuels were promoted as cleaner than gasoline, and (6) the energy security era (2001-present) when alcohol fuels were used to achieve energy security. Second, the article argues that biofuels’ history illustrates broader themes in the history (and likely future) of renewable energy.