E85 production is far more efficient then it was 10 or even 5 years ago. The energy in energy out figures are very good, there is hardly any waste every thing is utilized. The hardest and most expensive part is getting the last 10% of the water out of the ethanol to make it pure. If you could run on say an 80% pure ethanol, no gas. you could make that your self and cut out the middle man. When I was in collage, many moons ago, we tuned an engine to run on 140 prof vodka. It ran good and smelled better then the gas one to, and we made a mean cocktail with the leftovers. If we are talking alternative fuels, what about compressed natural gas or LP? Yes, I know, those are more money to get ready and we should just concentrate on getting the first production run out and think about alternative power plants for later runs!