Is Ethanol Cost Effective?

From Clean Air Choice, this link presents a comparison cost of E85 to Unleaded.

Consider the following:
1)Ethanol contains approximately 76% of the energy as gasoline (see below)
2)Ethanol's Return on Energy is approximately 1.24:1. That means that the BTU expended yields approximately 24% more BTU.

ETHANOL BY THE NUMBERS
Energy for Ethanol (100%) EEtOH = 75,700.00 BTU/Gallon
Energy for Gasoline (100%) EGAS = 115,000.00 BTU/Gallon

Energy in E85 (Ethanol Content Ranges from 70% to 85%)
EE85 = [(0.85 * EEtOH + 0.15 * EGAS) +(0.70 * EEtOH + 0.30 * EGAS)] / 2
EE85 = 84,542.50 BTU/Gallon

Energy in Blended Gasoline
EPUMPGAS = 0.10 * EEtOH + 0.90 * EGAS
EPUMPGAS = 111,070.00 BTU/Gallon

Comparison of Blended Gasoline to E85
Efficiency of E85 = EE85 / EPUMPGAS
Efficiency of E85 = 76%

This evaluation reflects the energy that is available for the automobile to consume. For E85 to break even with gasoline is must cost at least 24% less for the economics to be attractive. The following factors in that the Return on Energy for EtOH is

Equivalent Cost of Fuel based on Energy
Gasoline $2.85
E85 $2.17

FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION

1 gallons of E85 = 84,542.50 BTU
Fossil Fuel Energy Expended = 68,179.44 BTU
1 gallon Gasoline = 111,070.00 BTU

Based on equivalent energy: 1.31 Gallons E85 = 1 Gallon Gasoline

1.31 (Gallon E85/Gallon Gasoline Equiv E85) * 68,179.44 BTU Fossil Fuels
= 89,572.58 BTU Fossil Fuels / Gallon of Gasoline Equivalent E85

FOOD FOR THOUGHT