Alternate Energy AKA Wood Gas

What is wood gas? It is an alternate energy that has been around for centuries. The first official documented device to make and use wood gas was in 1839. In 1901 it powered its first automobile. Until 1930, wood gas was used to heat homes and light lanterns until natural gas became plentiful. It was a well understood and renewable energy source. What happened?
Oil.
With oil and natural gas becoming abundant and more easily transported to the markets, wood gas fell out of favor until World War 2, where in some countries, such as Nazi occupied Denmark, 95% of all vehicles were powered by wood gas. Then when the war ended, petroleum based fuels ruled once again.
Oil has many advantages over wood gas. Wood gas must be made by burning biomass (wood, grass, or similar) and generally cannot be stored for any significant period of time. Wood gas is inherently dirty and requires constant maintenance to keep the machines running. Wood gas also has a lower amount of available energy by weight (or volume) and thus makes machines run with less horsepower or torque. All of these make wood gas a less desirable method for providing energy to consumers.
However, wood gas is not useless. It can run a gasoline engine with a carburetor with nearly no modification to the engine, and can run gasoline engines with fuel injectors with a small change to the computer controlled mechanisms. It is based on a renewable fuel and can run on just about any solid combustible material. It is also easily made and repaired by anyone with basic understanding of metal work, specifically welding or braising.
Wood gas is such a useful viable alternative that the United States Government actually spend time and money to research and publish a paper on using wood gas as an alternative to gasoline in a petroleum emergency!
Wood gas could be a wonderful resource for people who are located in remote areas of the country, or those that run farm equipment. Those that want to live off the grid could use wood gas to power generators and use the heat from combustion to heat their homes. Should the world oil economy collapse, wood gas could be used to keep the economy moving, though more slowly.
Take a look at wood gas. It is one of the many different methods that can be used to reduce the need for oil. It may not fit the needs for the average commuter, as it takes up to 15 minutes to get the wood gas generator up and running before you start moving the vehicle, and must be restarted every time that the vehicle sits for more than an hour. However, it may work for long distance trucking and work well for agricultural work. It can also be used to remote energy production for remote towns. In short, it isn't the solution, but it may be part of the solution.