Great debate, at least, exists over whether using ethanol instead of petroleum is a net petroleum saver.
Ethanol has already lost that debate. Even Gore, not exactly a bright bulb, has realized it. Ethanol was an act of desperation, something the environmental extremists had to put up to prove an alternative energy exists, something they thought could work now, rather than some point in the future when the technology is better. It had the political plus of providing subsidies to farmers and ethanol producers. Money and fun for all, except the end users. Fact is, the modern world needs carbon fuels to run, and there is nothing to take their place, excepting nuclear energy for the power grids.