Election workers count ballots by candlelight and a kerosene lamp in a neighbourhood of Dakar, Senegal, in February 2007. An estimated 650 million Africans are without basic electricity. (Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press)

Look up in the sky, what do you see? Birds, clouds, maybe a plane off in the distance. You are likely looking past the obvious. Pull back a bit and you will see all those electrical wires hanging over your head.

In Europe and North America, a well-established electricity grid, both above and below the ground, has powered homes and businesses for more than a century now in the larger centres. But when engineers think about electrifying even the most remote villages of Africa, they see beyond the wires.

ENERGY FACTS

World population without electricity: 1.7 billion

Africa's proportion: one-third

Per capita electricity consumption Africa (2004): 494.9 kWh

Per capita Canada (2004): 15,744 kWh

Without much in the way of electrical infrastructure to begin with, aid groups and the private sector are gearing up to design cheaper and more energy efficient technologies for the developing world.

These advances are taking place on a variety of fronts from inexpensive, user-friendly laptops and cellphones to stovetops heated by sound waves and community lighting powered by the plentiful sunlight that bathes much of the continent.

The driving factor behind most of these projects is the desire to avoid the very costly, smog-producing power plants that plague industrialized cities in the developed world and seem to be contributing to global warming.

The International Energy Agency, for example, estimates that if left unchecked world energy use will rise 53 per cent by 2030. Over two-thirds of that increase in demand will come from the developing world, mostly China and India, but also the developing countries in Africa.

The result of all this attention is that many countries in Africa could very well leapfrog over the increasingly outdated electrical grid of the developed world right into a wireless and green future.

Lighting Africa

One prominent area of development is the emergence of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs) as energy efficient alternatives to conventional light bulbs. When combined with consistently improving solar-power technologies, these technologies may help solve the core energy challenges of the developing world where an estimated 1.7 billion people live without electricity.

"LEDs are absolutely amazing because each diode, or light, uses only one watt of energy. This means a solar panel can easily supply an LED system," explains Roselyn Himann, executive director at the Calgary-based Light Up The World Foundation (LUTW).

LUTW has lit up first aid stations in Papua New Guinea and is installing similar systems in six remote Amazon villages across Peru. It has also signed on as a member to the larger World Bank project called Lighting Africa.

With a start-up budget of $13 million, Lighting Africa's goal is to help bring inexpensive, non-fossil fuel lighting to 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2030. That represents about half the number in that region who live without access to modern electricity.

The big catch-up

The World Bank predicts that at least 1,000 megawatts of energy capacity must be added every year to meet the increasing demand in the southern Africa region alone. That's the equivalent of adding one and half new CANDU nuclear reactors every year.

The new ultra-cheap Nano, $2,500US, unveiled in New Delhi by Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata in January 2008. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press)

But, when it comes to resource-rich Africa — it has vast amounts of coal, uranium and even untapped hydro resources at its disposal — the source of power is only part of the problem.

In places where electrical grids do exist, these grids are costly and slow. Planners now feel that a broader use of ultra-efficient lighting could help existing infrastructure avoid shortages.

Reliable lighting would also extend the work day for businesses and reading hours for students, not to mention making streets safer and improving a wide number of conditions in hospitals.

In addition, installing solar-powered LED and CFL systems would be cheaper than expanding conventional high-wire grids in many places and would likely alleviate widespread fire and health hazards associated with the use of kerosene lanterns and paraffin lamps.

"People in the developed world are just beginning to realize to what extent LEDs are compatible with solar panels," Himann observes. "Whereas in the developing world, many systems are already in place."

Paying for light

Lighting Africa projects are underway in Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya and Ghana. In these countries, the World Bank absorbed most of the initial costs and facilitated communication between private firms and local manufacturers to get solar lighting systems on the ground at a reasonable price.

Lighting Africa has also implemented a microcredit finance plan to suit the individual needs of communities. These programs follow the poverty alleviation model that won Muhammed Yunus of Bangladesh the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

"This is not a handout," said Richenda Van Leeuwen, of the $100,000 his group, Good Energies Foundation, has donated to Lighting Africa.

Microcredit loans are not based on collateral and interest rates are set according to the economic circumstances of the immediate region, with amounts being repaid in weekly, bi-weekly or monthly installments. In this case, consultants help families purchase the latest lighting technology at rates they can afford.

Van Leeuwen says the microcredit program is working well, especially because many families already spend up to 10 per cent of their monthly income on kerosene or dry cell batteries anyway. So shifting that outlay to a more reliable and more efficient source is a relatively easy decision to make.

"In many parts, the poor have demonstrated a willingness to make small payments for safer and more reliable lights," said Van Leeuwen.

More solar-powered systems are expected to rollout over other Sub-Saharan countries over the next three years.

A showcase

Lighting Africa is currently reviewing grant applications for off-grid solar systems. Of the more than 400 hundred proposals that were received, about 20, or roughly four per cent were from Canadian developers while 45 per cent came from African developers.

The competition winners, who will be eligible for $200,000 in funding, will be announced at the first ever, global off-grid lighting conference, to take place in Accra, Ghana, in May 2008.

Lighting Africa is just one example of how some of the biggest innovators in the private sector have been looking to the developing world as both a long-term market and a showcase for their most advanced wares.

Among some of the more revolutionary products:

• The XO laptop for children. Marketed as the $100 laptop, the XO was created by the non-profit organization One Laptop Per Child in conjunction with Quanta Computer Inc. and has begun putting computers in classrooms in the world's poorest regions.
• The Motofone by Motorola is a mobile phone designed for first-time phone users with scaled down features, local language capabilities and low cost.
• The Freeplay EyeMax AM/FM radio is praised for its durable design and crystal clear sound. It can be recharged by solar panel or external battery, or it can be hand-cranked.
• The Nano by India's Tata Motors is a supposedly environmentally friendly $2,500 car designed to put automobile ownership within reach of Third World buyers.
• And the SCORE, a stove that encompasses cooking, refrigeration and electricity — hence the acronym SCORE — for rural areas.

This last device is in its final stages of development and uses thermoacoustics, or sound waves, to generate power. The product has the potential to drastically change food preparation in communities without access to power.

With the SCORE, food can be preserved safely and harmful smoke from cooking over an open fire, particularly in communal dwellings, is reduced.