Even as the concept of “going green” becomes embedded in society’s consciousness, the practical application of that concept can seem overwhelming. In every societal shift, however, there are pioneers — people who become examples for the rest.

Carolyn Raffensperger and Fred Kirschenmann have been promoting green living in their personal and professional lives for a long time.

Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, and Kirschenmann, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, have recycled and composted most of their trash since moving to Ames in 2000. They have never required garbage service in Ames.

The couple uses a limited amount of electricity in their daily lives. This year, they are taking the next step toward green living: making their own energy to fuel the electricity in their home.

Raffensperger and Kirschenmann have made solar power their preferred alternative energy source.

They purchased solar panels from a Des Moines-based company called Innovative Kinetics earlier this year, but Kirschenmann and Raffensperger would soon learn that installing solar panels in their home would not be simple.

“We got our money back from the solar energy company because the city did not give us a permit to install the panels,” Raffensperger said.

She said she did not encounter any hostility from the city officials she spoke with, but it was clear Ames was not prepared for its first solar-electricity-powered home.

“Somebody has to be first,” said Steve Wilson, energy services coordinator for the city of Ames. “We don’t have a mechanism in place yet.”

Wilson was referring to an “interconnection agreement,” which would allow Ames residents to remain connected with the city’s utility electric power grid while still being able to generate their own electricity by other means.

With this agreement, users would be able to generate power for much of their electricity through solar panels. During the night or on cloudy days when they need more electricity than solar power can provide, power would come from the city’s grid.

Wilson said the agreement is “probably 90 percent completed” and should be done in a month or two.

“We want to make sure that it’s safe,” he said.

Since solar users would still be hooked up to the grid, their solar energy source could actually pump power back into the old system at times. If the city has a power outage, Wilson said, there has to be a system in place to ensure alternative energy is not flowing through the grid when people are working on the lines to fix the problem.

Raffensperger said she is not upset with the city for the delay in putting solar electric energy in her home.

“This delay allows us to get this all right,” Raffensperger said.

She said she met with the Ames Utility Board in September and spoke about setting up a system that would allow for residents to use solar power for electricity.

“We have a chance to explore this together and really create mechanisms that allow Ames to be an environmentally responsible community,” she said.

In Raffensperger’s opinion, this is something Ames desperately needs.

“The fact of the matter is that the power generation in Ames is some of the dirtiest in the nation,” she said.

For example, Raffensperger said the incinerator at the Resource Recovery Plant produces noxious chemicals.

However, she said, the pause in installing solar and the conversation with the city utility “gives us an opportunity to give a vision for Ames.”

She said the city could take advantage of the ideas for renewable energy coming out of the university.

“Ames wants to be a green city,” Raffensperger said. “Why are we promoting and continuing really dirty technology?”

She said she would like to see a council in Ames “creating a vision and imagining a way forward” for Ames to become an environmentally healthy place.

Raffensperger praised some of Ames’ green programs, such as giving away free energy-saving light bulbs.

She said the road blocks for solar energy are there because it is always difficult to change a big infrastructure such as the city utility.

Wilson said the city utility is also working on creating a system in which customers can earn credit on their electric bills for when they put more energy into the power grid than they take out.

Every 11 months, the utility would look at the customer’s account, and if the bill has a negative balance due to the credit accrued, that customer would be actually be paid by the utility, Wilson said.

He said it would not be a lot of money, however.

“You really don’t install these systems because you want to make money,” he said. “You do it because you want to green up, and maybe offset some costs.”

Wilson said the city as a whole would benefit from more residents choosing alternative energy, especially during the summer.

“In the middle of the summer when it’s hot, our demand for electricity gets really high because of air conditioning,” he said.

This can really tax the system, he said, making the lines hot.

“It’s beneficial to lower the demand,” Wilson said. “On that hot summer day, they’re going to be generating their own needs so we don’t have to.”

Raffensperger said she wants to help the city of Ames and herself as she looks for ways to put environmental principles into practice.

“My goal is community sufficiency and community wholeness,” she said.

What’s blocking solar electricity in Ames?

Solar electricity will soon be feasible in Ames. Since it has not been implemented in a home yet, however, the city is developing some guidelines for residents to install solar panels on their property.

— According to Section 5.103 of the Ames Municipal Code: “Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by this code, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the Building Official and obtain the required permit. It is a violation to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building or structure or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, without having first obtained the required permit.”

— Steve Wilson, energy services coordinator for the city of Ames, said the builders of homes and businesses must sign for a temporary meter to hook up to the Ames electric grid, according to the city’s current code.

— Wilson said the electric utility is currently working on an “inter-connection agreement.” This means they are setting up a system in which residents can sit down with the city’s engineers to clear their solar project as safe.

— Sam Perry, Ames city planner, said energy generation is currently permitted in industrial areas but not in residential areas. Perry said the Ames departments of housing and planning are working with the electrical utility to submit a proposal before the City Council some time this winter, relating to a review system to help residents set up solar energy in their homes.

A quick look at solar electric energy today

Vikram Dalal, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been researching solar energy for 36 years. He said he is considering installing solar electric energy.

“I don’t think I’ll run into any problems,” Dalal said.

Right now, he said, he is working with other faculty to improve the efficiency of solar energy and eventually make solar power more affordable.

He said solar panels can be made more efficient by increasing the “conversion efficiency” from its current rate of 10 percent to 20 percent. The conversion efficiency refers to the rate at which energy from the sun is turned into electric energy.

When the sun is shining in an area, it emits a constant current that needs to be changed into the alternating electrical current that runs through the wires used in homes in order to work as electricity, Dalal said.

Dalal is working on finding new ways to convert the sun’s current into an electric current. The better the conversion efficiency, the less panel surface area is needed. The smaller the panel, the lower the cost.

Solar electric power, Dalal said, is currently a $20 billion industry. Last year, it was a $12 billion industry — a 63 percent growth.

“And we are hoping that it will continue,” Dalal said.

A local solar power company based in Boone, PowerFilm, is a “spin-off” of what Dalal and his colleagues are doing at Iowa State, he said. The people running the company used to work with him at the university.

PowerFilm, Dalal said, has found a high demand for solar power and sold out of panels quickly.

He said Iowa could easily become a leader in solar energy.

“All it requires is good technology — and Iowa State specializes in good technology,” Dalal said.