Technically yes, but the amount of energy to remediate polluted water from say tar sands or Marcellus nat gas drilling would be extreme, and to parse that into energy terms would then make the energy return less meaningful - energy return is the biggie no doubt, but in the end we need a portfolio approach, just like in finance. To take it one step further, we want the highest return on scarce resources adjusted for risk (not just mean return). Same goes for energy (high standard deviation on biofuels, solar, wind, etc. though with more installations the dispersion on techs like wind decreases).

Nate, I believe the word for what you propose is "hubris".

cfm in Gray, ME