Across Africa, simple carbon-free technologies and local creative partnerships have the electrical juices flowing, expanding grid access and prosperity.

In countries like Kenya and Tanzania, 80 to 90 percent of the population lacks access to electricity from an established grid, according to Fast Company. Although electric grids exist in most urban areas, connecting to them and paying monthly bills is too expensive for most residents. And in rural areas, access is even rarer.

For the 580 million people without grid access on the continent, that means resorting to kerosene lamps that harm health and the environment for meager amounts of light, and walking long distances for simple tasks like charging mobile phones. And as mobile technology use skyrockets in Africa, it's increasingly recognized as an important anti-poverty tool. Being off the grid not only keeps people in the dark. It also keeps people poor.

But three innovative approaches aim to brighten the future by expanding affordable grid access and harnessing renewable energy sources with minimal carbon emissions.

Turbines from scrap give new meaning to ‘local power.’ A Kenyan company is finding power in scrapyards. While solar energy is abundant in Africa and solar panels are generally cheaper than wind turbines, Kenya-based Access:energy is making wind power work in rural regions. Their trick? Funded by NGOs, donors and consumers, Access:energy teaches locals to build reliable turbines using existing scrap metal and car parts already present in communities.

That means no need to import or transport materials, and it creates design and manufacturing jobs in rural communities. Turbines are built where they are needed, minimizing the cost of tapping into existing electric grids or transporting solar panels over long distances. And replacement parts, when needed, are easily accessible.

For the 30 million Kenyans lacking electricity, Access:energy believes “the easiest way to get that power to residents is to teach them to make it,” according to Fast Company. So the organization is training local technicians to build the Night Heron turbine. One turbine can cheaply power up to 50 rural homes.

With fully local sourcing, Access:energy says it has created “the first commercially-viable zero-import wind turbine,” while creating jobs, reducing waste and increasing off-the-grid energy.

Solar partnership aims to brighten the future of R&D. Despite abundant sunshine on the energy-starved continent, a lack of funding and coordination has slowed African solar research to a crawl. But a new research-oriented network that now includes close to 200 scientists from 22 African and 10 non-African nations hopes to build the connections to turn that around.

ANSOLE (the African Network for Solar Energy) launched following a 2010 conference in Tunisia when scientist Daniel Egbe of Cameroon introduced unacquainted colleagues working on solar energy research in different African countries. "I said, 'let's see if us Africans can sit down and work together'," Egbe told the Science and Development Network. "We realised that we are working in related fields of solar energy, and that's how ANSOLE materialised."

According to Mammo Muchie, founding editor of the African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, “solar power will become the major renewable energy source on the continent only by organised research, training, design and engineering.”

That’s where ANSOLE comes in. “Connecting researchers is key, especially in a field where the continent's scientists have little interaction with those in richer countries, a continent which is expensive and time-consuming to traverse,” according to the Science and Development network. The ANSOLE website now allows scientists to start new collaborations online, join together on funding proposals, and offer webinars at African universities.

"ANSOLE can help the movement of students from one country to the other, from poor countries to rich countries — in this way information will start to circulate between institutions," says Egbe.

‘Netflix for batteries’ delivers power where it’s needed. Sometimes, the cheapest way to get electricity into a home is to carry it. Tanzanian entrepreneur Solomon Faraji of EGG-energy has worked with co-founder Jamie Yeng to develop a low-cost subscription service for small, rechargeable batteries to provide electricity for individual homes and businesses.

"We want to move power in an inexpensive way from the grid and into homes and businesses," Yeng told the BBC. And the subscription service is inexpensive, costing around $80 for the initial installation and $60 for a yearly subscription, compared to between $400 and $800 to be connected to the existing grid. The installation includes wiring a home or business for full power access, and then allows the occupants to buy the subscription for the battery, which connects directly to the newly-wired power system.

EGG, like Netflix, enables customers to exchange a drained battery for a fully charged one at charging and distribution stations as its charge runs out after 3 to 10 days. Then, returned batteries are recharged and re-distributed to other subscribers.

Two of the three existing EGG charging stations are connected to existing grid transmission lines, while the other is solar powered. While the company hopes to increase the number of solar charging stations, using existing transmission networks allows EGG to “bridge that last-mile gap” between the grid and disconnected homes and businesses, according to BBC.

And for a fraction of the cost of traditional grid access, this Netflix-like battery sharing system is helping more people with limited connectivity see the light.

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A changing landscape in Sherman County, Oregon. Photo:portland general (flickr)

An environmental nuisance has become a promise of prosperity in Sherman County, Oregon.

Heavy winds were once a daily vexation for residents of Sherman County. Now they are a powerhouse for development for it’s four towns. Located south of the Columbia River Gorge, Sherman County is an ideal location for wind farms — its proximity to power lines that connect to California has made the $17.5 million profit possible over the last nine years, says the New York Times.

Although the once spectacular panorama of Mount Adams is now peppered with huge wind turbines, the operation has been met with overwhelming approval since its beginning in 2002. Jobs have been created, the school district is prospering, and families are more financially secure. Sherman’s many wheat farmers, who were struggling prior to the operation due to the rising cost of farming, have been able to resuscitate the profitability of agriculture and ensure its survival with average yearly payouts of $5,000 and $7,800 for each turbine on their land. “We absolutely hated waking up some days because the wind blows all the time...It’s like living in a wind tunnel...Now you wake up and the wind is blowing and it’s like, yes,” one Sherman County resident told the New York Times.

China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydro-electric power station. Photo: PVCG (flickr)

Can China go green without disrupting their economic growth?

Fossil fuels provide most of the energy powering the world’s post populated country, but last month China committed to producing more energy from cleaner sources.

Liu Zhenya — the president of China's largest electric provider — said that China aims to produce 35 percent of its energy from "low-emissions" sources by 2020 at a press conference in Beijing, tells Bloomberg.com.

China is currently the world's leader in renewable energy production. However, a study by Wharton University shows that low emissions sources like hydro-electricity, wind power, and solar power make up only 8 percent of the nation's total energy capacity.

China’s demand for energy is expected to double over the next decade as well — increasing consumption rates, massive amounts of industrial exports, and construction growth could potentially push electricity consumption to nearly 8 trillion kilowatt-hours a year. At that rate China would consume twice as much the United States, which is the next biggest energy consumer after China.

Considering that China’s growth in energy consumption has more than tripled the world’s average in past years and nearly 90 percent of China's energy still comes from coal and oil, the Wharton University report estimates that the nation will need $3.7 trillion to maintain its projected energy growth.

For China, the numbers don’t add up. Their demand for energy is going to double over the next eleven years and the majority of their energy capacity is highly dependent on coal. The climb to 35 percent is either going to be relatively steep or they are going to spend a lot of money converting fossil fuels.

A London-based architecture firm is looking to bring some green to the deserts of the Persian Gulf. Construction is set to begin next week in the United Arab Emirates on a completely solar-powered community called Masdar City. If all goes according to plan, the 2.3 square mile community will be car-free and will produce all of its own energy from sunlight.