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Recent tests by Consumer Reports showed E85 ethanol to be less fuel-efficient than gasoline, and sometimes more expensive.

But for some who use it, the benefits still far outweigh the drawbacks of the cleaner-burning ethanol-gasoline mix: It's environmentally friendly and a renewable source of energy.

The University of Arizona switched some of the vehicles in its fleet to the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline in August.

Consumer Reports did a test of a vehicle using E85 and the same make and model using gasoline, and concluded E85 fuel doesn't get the same gas mileage as regular gasoline.

That's not a big concern for the UA fleet, said Walt Kavanagh, assistant director of business services for Facilities Management — at least not big enough for it to switch those vehicles back to regular gasoline.

The blend currently costs about the same as regular unleaded gasoline, give or take a few cents, but at times E85 has been more expensive.

Local stations were selling E85 last week for a little less than regular gasoline. E85 prices ranged from about $2.11 to $2.15 a gallon. Regular unleaded gasoline ranged from about $2.13 to $2.20 at the same stations Thursday.

But, Consumer Reports said, the E85 fuel is less efficient: It takes more E85 than regular gasoline to go the same distance.

The Consumer Reports test involved a Chevrolet Tahoe. With regular gasoline, the vehicle got 14 miles per gallon; with E85 the Tahoe got 10 mpg.

This means, overall, the consumer would be spending more money and more fuel to go just as far.

The UA vehicles get about 10 percent fewer miles per gallon than the ones that use gasoline, Kavanagh said.

A little less energy efficiency is hard to measure in terms of all of the other benefits, he said.

"What's the benefit as far as pollution avoidance to the person not only driving the car but (to the person) walking to work that will have a few more atoms of oxygen to breathe?" he said. "How you can put a value on that? If you can really evaluate the benefit to our society, you may be able to make up the difference."

The health benefits will outweigh the drawbacks for the state, too, once more people use alternative fuels, said Steve Owens, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

"There is not significant use of it in Arizona yet because of limited availability to the public," he said. Only four stations in the state distribute E85, all of them in Southern Arizona.

Owens added that once E85 is more widely distributed and more frequently used, along with other alternative fuels, it would have a "substantial impact on improving air quality."

That's because vehicle emissions are the "single largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions in Arizona," Owens said. "We believe it would have an important impact on air quality."

As far as cost goes, Owens and Kavanagh both said as soon as gas prices start to rise again, E85 will be cheaper than gas.

For those with flex-fuel vehicles that can use any combination of ethanol and gasoline up to 85 percent ethanol, that could mean money savings even after accounting for the lower miles per gallon.

"In the long run, I don't think anyone will argue that ethanol will be cost-competitive with gasoline, if not less expensive," Owens said. "From a cost factor, you have to look at the timeline and what it is you're really measuring. I would assume there's no measurement for the environmental impacts. What's the cost of clean air and of healthy kids, prevented illnesses from air problems?"

The supply issues should ease at least slightly in the future because more facilities to distribute E85 are planned for various areas in the state, Owens said.

On StarNet: Read more coverage of environmental stories and find links to conservation-related Web sites at www.azstarnet.com/environment