Green Energy -- An Alternative Definition
by Lloyd Helferty

  "Green Energy" is any energy system that not only does not severely impact the health of humans or the environment in the short or long term, but is also defined as any energy source whose by-products can be readily reintegrated back into the environment by the existing biological systems of Earth.

  The by-products of producing energy also should not in any way reduce the capacity of existing biological systems to reintegrate these same by-products back into living matter.

  By this definition therefore, Nuclear Energy is not (and cannot be) considered a "Green Energy" source since its by-products cannot be reintegrated back into existing living systems.

  Also by this definition modern "Fossil energy" use is not "Green Energy" because its by-products are being released into the environment at a rate at which biological systems cannot effectively reintegrate them back into living systems -- hence the build-up of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

  Note that fossil energy use at much diminished rates of extraction and use might be considered "Green Energy" provided the rate of biological reintegration of the by-products keeps up with the rate of release of the by-products.  This does not diminish the fact that these energy sources will eventually become depleted however, so "Fossil energy" could never be considered a "renewable" resource -- unless of course the rates of extraction matched the rates of replenishment, which of course would reduce the rates of use to minuscule levels.

  Finally, Biomass, Ethanol, and Hydrogen energy systems could be called "Green Energy" systems if <and only if> the overall net effect of using these technologies does not reduce the capacity of Earth's biological systems to regenerate, i.e. the sources of 'fuel' that provide the energy for these systems do not on their own reduce the long-term capacity of the underlying biological systems to endlessly regenerate subsequent generations of fuel at the same rates, i.e. there shall be no long term trend toward a decrease in biological productivity.

Note that if a system uses non-"Green" technologies (such as Nuclear, Coal or Natural Gas for example) to produce carrier/storage 'fuels' such as Hydrogen, one cannot therefore call these "Green Energy" systems either.