Last week, Aleem Walji, the Head of Global Development Initiatives for Google.org wrote a blog post celebrating innovation in Africa after a trip across four sub-Saharan African countries. He notes that:

Today, countries like Uganda are still 90% unserved by electricity. Can you imagine not having power in 90% of any country and still trying to grow the economy? Do we expect Africans to wait for grid electricity to incrementally reach people or are there disruptive innovations that can provide off-grid renewable energy to rural Africans in scalable ways?

I cannot help but wonder what is on the horizon. People are innovating all over the continent with bio-gas, small scale hydro, wind, and solar power. Where people have electricity, there is a massive difference in economic activity, public services, productivity, and hope about the future. Energy is truly a platform that affects nearly every aspect of rural life.

Aleem makes a compelling case for electrification as a core building block of economic development. I was inspired to do a little digging into recent innovative ideas in the field, and came away with several exceptionally creative and novel stories from Echoing Green Fellows and beyond:

For example, a recent post on 2006 Echoing Green Fellow Peter Haas' (of AIDG) excellent blog describes a small-scale hydroelectric project in Guatamala (aptly named “pico-hydro”) that can be built with inexpensive and available materials and produces enough electricity to charge up ten cell phones at one time.

Why measure electrical output in terms of cell phones?

To charge cell phones, members of the community have to take an expensive and time consuming taxi ride an hour each way to pay a service for charging. Cell phones have become increasingly important in small isolated communities as they give these communities access to medicine, the market and family.

AIDG is also working with Humdinger, an organization Popular Mechanics highlighted for their innovative approach to harnessing windpower called the WindBelt. Shawn Frayne developed the concept while on a trip to Petite Anse, Haiti. The technology, demoed in the must-watch video below, can be built in Haiti for roughly $5, and can power two white LED’s and radio.

Other recent stories from around the web:

• A K-8 “green” school opens in Bali, Indonesia with a micro-hydro power generator.
• Bollywood celebrities team up with the UN’s climate panel to raise money for energy projects in 100 villages in Asia and Africa.
• Bio-diesel from a small village in Sierra Leone (also via AIDG).
• Powering African Schools with Playground Toys.
• 2007 Fellow Robert Mutsaers (of Green Power in Kenya) received a $200,000 grant from World Bank's Lighting Africa program to continue building micro hydropower in rural Kenya.

What other inspiring and innovative ideas are out there?  What's the craziest way to make electricity? We'd love to hear from you.