"Hence why would you want to leave harmful chemicals like Mercury flaoting in your back yard or city when it does not need to. Just for corporate greed ? "
That is not Corporate greed unless you look at the advertising contspiracy. It is consumer greed or one up manship with the neighbor or 'keeping up with the Jones' whatever you want to call it.
This will piSS a lot of people off but if you really want to get serious about green you have to start working on Nuclear power. Find some way to use the 96% of unuseable material. Because from a Northerners prospective we need heat. That is coal, wood, oil, or electric. if we go nuclear there will be lots of electricity to produce hydrogen, charge our cars, run equipment, and heat our homes. But we have to deal with the waste. I think even if we have to put it in a rocket and send it to the Sun (which we can do now), it would be the best thing for the planet.
With the new nano-technology we have to be very careful what we make, because the carbon items (I hear) are almost indistructable. They are ideal for hydrogen storage tanks and super light and super strong car frame, but they must be reusable. Just think, yo can pass your storage tank down to your son, just like the old shotgun used to be.