I know this about ethanol;
1: gallon for gallon contains less energy potential vs gasoline.
2: ethanol, being an alcohol, is hydroscopic, meaning the **** absorbs water. Period. For those people that run through a tank of fuel a day and refuel at a station that has its tanks refilled almost daily this isnt a problem. For the other 95%, this means you are getting a free helping of WATER with your alcoholed up gasoline, that hasnt dropped a single penny in price with the dilution of the 'much cheaper' fuel.
On that same topic, alcohol WILL seperate from gasoline, and gas floats on top of it. So those of us who live/work/refill rural, the original 10% ethanol mix may be 50 or 60% in your couple gallons of gas if you are the first one to fill up after a long period of time (as little as overnight!). Pumps draw from the bottom, not the top.
3: yes, ethanol does have a higher octane rating as well as slightly better cooling abilities than gasoline, which makes it make sense for very high performance 'race' machines. However these racing outfits do not use pump ethanol. They get their fuel from the source and store it in methods to prevent the absorbtion of moisture. They use the fuel in small quantities (compared to street use) so it makes sense in this role. For any other use, i stand behind my statement fully, Ethanol is GARBAGE.