www.sacbee.com/110/story/162586.html

A little math background necessary but an interesting take on fueling our
bricks and the 'system cost' of C2-H5-OH.

Remembering my organic chemistry a bit, the energy from burning hydrocarbons
comes from breaking the C-H bonds.  The larger the number of C-H bonds the
higher the potentential energy available in the hydrocarbon. Alcohol burns
to CO2 and H2O.  For the enterprising, the amount of available energy in a
mole of ethanol is left as an excercise for the bog.

You can't win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the game

-- Everyman's laws of thermodynamics.