Making sure that you wind up with a net energy gain is a critical factor in the ethanol cycle.

Many of our problems would be solved by a large-scale nuclear energy program, including the breeding cycles required to burn high-level nuclear waste.

Note that if you used electricity produced by nuclear power to process ethanol, you come out ahead environmentally even if it takes more electricity than the energy you get from the ethanol. You can use ethanol in existing automobile technology and distribution systems, without having to develop an effective electric car, and since the ethanol is made from growing plant matter, there is no net increase in the atmospheric CO2 load.

Unfortunately, the whole ethanol question is going to be settled by politics and ADM political contributions, not by good science and common sense.