Quantifying Regenerativity
No system can be absolutely regenerative, in other words there can be no system that is 100% regenerative. Due to evolution and the continuing and largely unpredictable changes that occur over the lifetime of Earth, it is impossible to create a 100% regenerative system. One can only reach 99.999% efficiency, the ultimate goal. However, with the energy material interchange, it is possible to create enough energy to potentially create the equivalent amount of material used to create the system in the first instance. See example below.
A completed object (an object with emergy, or embodied energy) can however create more energy than was used to create it. I.e. a solar panel outputting more energy than its given embodied energy. However the system used to make up the solar panel: the inputs such as the materials for the object (silicone) and the solar radiation can only be regenerated if enough energy is produced to generate the materials used to make up the solar panel. However, the solar energy absorbed by the solar panels is still lost or at the very least converted into something else.
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