Drive On Wood!

There’s a wood gasification sensation in Alabama, where Wayne Keith hasn’t used more than a few gallons of gasoline since 2004, thus saving about $40,000.

Back in 2004, Wayne Keith drew a line in the sand at $1.50. That’s the price at which the Alabama native would no longer buy a gallon of gasoline. Keith, who makes his living raising cows, growing hay and milling timber in a small town about 30 miles northeast of Birmingham, wasn’t bluffing. He knew he had an alternative fuel in his backyard: the hundreds of pounds of scrap wood he generates every time he runs his sawmill.

One Man’s Journey In Powering Trucks With Renewable, Natural Resources

With gas prices currently pushing around $4.00 per gallon throughout the country, an Alabama man is utilizing the renewable natural resource NHLA members love so much as a means to get him around. Wood. Wood gas, to be exact.

Throughout the years, Wayne Keith has been a do-it-yourselfer, but in 2004, he took his skills to a new level by modifying his first pickup truck to run on wood chunks.

Wayne Keith is not concerned about the gas price hikes caused by the war in Iraq, increased demand from China and India, or hurricane Katrina. Neither is he concerned about the 1968 huge (390 cubic inch) gas-guzzling engine in his farm pickup. In fact, as far as Keith is concerned, the bigger the engine, the better, and he feels that the performance of his truck would be improved if he had an even larger engine. This is because he has retrofitted this vehicle to run on gas produced by partially burning wood.

GREENVILLE - A young, rural Greenville man has come up with an innovative way to utilize an alternative fuel to power an older Ford pick-up truck he bought.

John Cleveland has used a process called Wood Gasification to produce a flammable gas that, when piped to the engine, acts much as natural gas or propane would to power a vehicle.

"The wood gas generator, also known as a gasifier, is in the bed of my truck and produces this fuel in real time on demand," said the 35-year-old. "My fuel is chunks of wood about the size of a baseball. So, my truck drives on wood."

Cleveland said he has worked on this project since about March of the year and finally drove it for the first time about two months ago.

BERKELEY, Calif. — It is a classic road rally, 600 miles from the liberal embrace of Berkeley to the anything-goes lights of Las Vegas. No speeding is allowed, or in some cases even possible. And if you stop to refuel, it had better be in someone’s trash.

On Saturday, five teams began the Escape From Berkeley, maybe the world’s most eco-friendly motor race, driving all manner of alternative-fuel-burning jalopies, roadsters, and even a frying oil-fueled Mercedes-Benz, with a single goal: to complete the race using no petroleum.

SPRINGVILLE, Alabama -- If Alabama State Troopers had asked Wayne Keith why he was running his 1993 Dodge Dakota pickup at 90 mph on I-59 in St. Clair County last week, his reply probably would have resulted in a Breathalyzer test.

His story of making a practice run for a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats would have likely raised suspicion of a little too much barley and hops.

The 61-year-old Springville inventor is indeed at the Bonneville Salt Flats this week. On Wednesday...

Wayne Keith, a tinker from Alabama. Who is he and why is he important for such a time as this?

Keith, an unassuming farmer, who has worked in law-enforcement and as a tinker built his own sawmill, has been using wood to fuel his farm trucks and his family vehicle for the past six years. Keith estimates he has driven over 200,000 miles on wood. Keith claims he has never cut down a live tree to fuel his gasifier or heat his home.