Workshops with David Blume

 

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Feedback from Workshop Participants

 

                      Here's what attendees had to say about our recent workshops:
 
David,
 
I really enjoyed your class this week and would like to extend an offer to come and visit our facility. We are constructing a facility similar to Aquaranch except that we are bolting it to one of our dairy farms and using the energy from the cows to fuel it.  We have 2 anaerobic digesters, a manure processing sysyem and are in the process of constructing a 27,000 sq ft aquaponics facility.  
 
In conjunction with you and Aquaranch, we would like to work together to made a model for this type of operation.  We already have an 800 gallon photobioreactor full of spirulina, and make biodiesel from waste vegetable oil.   We would like to get the whole farm off of buying any fuel in a year or so, but will need some help to do this.  We are starting construction in a few weeks and are looking to tie some of the entities together and get with some creative people to put the final pieces in place.  We have a great market right close to us and will have no problem moving our products based on the products we currently sell at the St. Paul farmers market.  
 
Please contact me in the near future to see if you would be interested in visiting or consulting with us on our project.  I think with the great things that Miles has done, and with ours we could make a model that could really move this effort forward.
 
Thanks
Steve

Dave,

It was exciting to hear and see your presentations on ethanol and Permaculture on Monday and yesterday in Madison. They confirmed my optimism about the possibilities and opportunities in Ethanol and Permaculture to benefit me, my family, the country and the world as a whole. It was also nice to sit with you and your group and share some humor and experiences at the Double Tree. I look forward to learning and doing more with you and the IIEA in the future.

If you need any help on projects or initiatives in the northern Illinois area, please let me know.

Once again, great job on the seminar!

Best Wishes,
Jeff Bell


Hi Dave,

Thanks again for coming back to Wisconsin so soon.  Your workshop provided excellent information on the political and social landscape surrounding ethanol.

 
We will stay in touch with Senator Feingold's staff and continue to search for opportunities to strategically promote our cause.  I believe we are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

Please do not hesitate to call on me if I can be of service to our common cause in any way.  I am looking forward to our success, and I will remain.

At Your Service,
Brian Buckta


Hi Dave,
 
Thanks for a mind-opening two days in Madison!! Your lecture was insightful, wise and inspirational and I'm absolutely excited about the possibilities. Please count me in to support your efforts in Spring Grove as you build your "Pilot Integrated Systems Project". I really want to be a part of that groundbreaking effort where you're putting all your ideas together. I'm only 45 minutes from Spring Grove so if you need an extra set of hands please count me in.
 
Again, thanks for your courageous leadership for energy and food independence. I only wish our paths had crossed sooner.
 
Henry Moss

Hi Everyone:
 
It was great meeting everyone this past weekend. We are a very diverse group of individuals, even among our small group, with a common cause.
 
Many of us are beginners just getting familiar with the information and wanting to know where to start. There are others who are already experimenting and making alcohol and are ready to make the next step but need a feedstock/source. Some who are farmers or have land and want to do more than grow monoculture crops with very little return or sustainable livelihood. While everyone is at various stages in this exciting new culture there is one thing we can all do collectively right now and that is begin using E-85 ( using the suggested weaning process of adding 1 gal of E-85 to your first full tank, then 2 gal to the next full tank, 3 gal with the next until you reach 50% or greater if possible ) in one or more of our vehicles and start supporting the effort of what I would call TRUE CHANGE. This will not only help are farmer friends now and the switch to alcohol but also begin building a base for our driver owned alcohol filling stations in the future.
 
1)I would ask that if you begin switching to 50% E-85 (or greater with a little experimentation) to track your progress, make/model, year of vehicle, mileage, number of total miles on your vehicle, etc and other information you feel is important. We can all share the data with each other and begin sharing the information with family and Friends and grow our base. This will help in showing it can be done. Live what we believe and others will follow especially when you show it works!
 
2) Next we are looking forward to the e-mail from Dave and Tom. We must write letters to our Federal and State reps to stop the carnage of our friends the farmer and stop the Velero buy out. They hold our most precious resource.land and opportunity!
 
3) Obviously there is a great need to raise funds for the projects Dave has proposed to support our efforts and help grow the cultural change we all know that is needed. If you have suggestions share your ideas via this distribution and the blog when it becomes available.
 
Look forward to hearing from everyone with your data as you begin switching to E-85.
 
Your friend and fellow conspirator,
Rick Neckermann

Hi David
 
We met and talked briefly at the MREA in Custer Wis last summer. I asked you about ethyl-esters for bio-diesel. I will be at Michael Fields in East Troy on Tues at your class. After that I'll be teaching a class in the evening in Milwaukee. Bio-diesel: Crime against humanity or fuel for the revolution? Trying to reconcile the United Nations with Berkeley Bio-diesel statements. I plan on using some of your style and tricks of presenting material. A DIY alcohol stove and all. I look forward to seeing you again. Have not build a still yet but you have made a big impression on me
 
Tom Brandstetter, Milwaukee

Hi all,
 
I have a 2002 Saturn 4cyl with 135,000 miles. I started ramping up to E85 last year, adding a couple of gallons of E85 at each fill up. I found I could run straight E85 with no performance issues. The engine actually felt like it "pulled" stronger in the midrange. Check engine light came on (who cares?). Fuel mileage decreased about 15%. Would a conversion module help with the mileage decrease? Anyway I changed my driving habits; easy on the gas pedal and less harsh braking so most of that loss of MPG came back just through conservative driving habits. Noticed the exhaust did not stink anymore!
 
Jon Willoughby

Why Attend a Workshop?

The era of cheap fuel is over, and the profitability of small-scale alcohol production is skyrocketing! With his new book completed, Dave is beginning to teach full-day workshops in alcohol production and car/equipment conversion. The goal of these workshops is to give citizens, government, and business people a deep introductory immersion in the amazing benefits of appropriate-scale alcohol production and use.
 
The Alcohol Can Be a Gas workshop is for: anyone who wants to make fuel for themselves or as a small business, farmers looking for new, more profitable ways to use their land, mechanics who want to start doing alcohol conversions, activists who want to start driver-owned alcohol stations in their neighborhoods, experimental aircraft pilots who want to stop using expensive leaded Avgas, anyone who owns a high-performance/race vehicle that needs high-octane fuel, and anyone who is disgusted every time they fill their tank with gasoline or diesel. 
 
Those looking to find their place in the renewable energy boom will find many profitable opportunities from which to choose. As the production of petroleum continues to wane, integrated alcohol fuel production will be necessary to provide our communities with a soft energy landing, local food security and robust employment.
 
This is your chance to learn the subject from the author of the comprehensive book on the subject and get your questions answered in person.
 
Partial worktrade positions may be offered for each workshop, where you help with various chores associated with putting on the event, such as registration, selling books, working on room set-up, beverages, driving Dave around town when he is doing pre class publicity, and lunch set-up at some courses. A limited number of worktrade positions are available for helping promote the event working with regional organizers. For more information on worktrade, write to info@alcoholcanbeagas.com
 

One-Day versus Two-Day Workshops

Dave teaches both one-day and two-day workshops.  The two-day workshops are far more in-depth,  and cover the full curriculum in the course outline you can download from this page.  It's very thorough and intensive.  If you are planning on going into business or seriously interested in every step of the process, from production through establishing a fuel station, this is the right workshop for you. Subjects are covered in great detail, and many illustrations and photos from actual producers are included, as well as vital information about equipment and other aspects of production not available anywhere else.
The one-day workshops are more economical but generally cover largely the same territory. By necessity, they will not cover all items in the outline.  This is a very good overview of the different aspects of the alcohol fuel universe. At the beginning of the one-day workshop, participants will be polled as to what aspects to cover, and Dave will tailor the day to focus on what participants specify.  So, for instance, many one-day workshops are being done in conjunction with farm groups like the American Corn Growers Association and will focus on issues relating to farmers as producers while addressing things like equipment conversion and fuel stations at a lower level of detail. 
 

Download the outline for the workshop.

Customized Workshops 

Dave has presented custom one-day workshops for entrepreneur groups considering alcohol plant building, municipalities wanting to use waste to make fuel; fleet manager workshops for distribution and engine conversion, regional governments (both domestic and international) for policy design, and community groups organizing farmer-consumer cooperatives. 

Here's a bit more information on benefits for specific groups.

Click the link that matches you:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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workshop_outline.pdf409.36 KB
ACBAG - Workshop info.pdf (INFO ONLY 268.8 KB

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