People ignore the energy component required to manufacture solar panels, produce ethanol, etc.....
Between the mining of material & manufacturing, it takes between one to three years (depending on location) for a solar panel to recover the amount of energy required to make just the panel. That's not including batteries if you're entirely off the grid (nor does it take into consideration the ecological impact of the batteries once spent). A wind turbine takes two to four years to pay for its embedded energy.
For those less mathematically inclined, the left items are the most efficient, the right are the least efficient...