There are two things that occasionally work. First, you may simply be able to reapply for a Green Card based on the same or another category. Second, you can apply for an immigrant visa as a special immigrant returning permanent resident at a US consulate. In order to get this, you have to prove that the long absence was outside your control, and that you never intended to abandon your Green Card. Unfortunately, this is usually very difficult to do.
Also, under certain very limited circumstances, you may be able to simply keep your Green Card anyway, even after absences of more than one year.
In Eshghan Khodagolian v. John Ashcroft, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals decided that in one very unusual case, Khodagolian was able to keep his GC despite an absence of more than one year, and several other long trips. The circumstances of the trips made it evident that he did not intend to abandon his US residency. Note that this is a very unusual circumstance and will rarely work! Even though this particular person won the case, he only won it on the second level of appeals. The inspector at the airport, as well as an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) had all decided against him.
Finally, if you are lucky and are just not asked about the length of your absence, then you can enter the US with your GC regardless of how long you have been out of the country - but of course, you then need to remain in the US and establish a residence here. Otherwise, the next trip will carry the same risk. Relying on such luck, of course, is not a very reliable strategy!
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