Energy beets yield more ethanol with less energy for refining

These "energy beets" yield twice as much ethanol per acre as compared to corn kernels, and they yield sugar rather than starch. starch, as from corn kernels, must first be converted to sugar before conversion to ethanol.
Energy beets for the future of Kentucky farms and fuel | Business Lexington:

Roger Ford, CEO of Patriot, said that the company’s system would rely on natural gas, as corn ethanol does, to drive the process — basically a distillery yielding alcohol from the sugar. He said that processing beets would use natural gas more efficiently than the corn process. The beets yield sugar directly, whereas corn requires an extra processing step to convert starch to sugar.