Your line of reasoning is the one I always take on these sorts of things. If it takes X input energy to make energy saving Y, if Y is not significantly more eff

Your line of reasoning is the one I always take on these sorts of things. If it takes X input energy to make energy saving Y, if Y is not significantly more efficient than X, it's probably a net loss. A lot of green stuff ends up being much less cheap/green if one looks at the total cost and environmental impact of the thing over its lifetime (including efficiency loss over time, mineral extraction, labor, electrical source, etc). Energy has always been an expense people want to minimize. There's not a ton of low hanging fruit here.