Illuminating Thoughts on Power

The Hydropower Empowerment Network takes a country-by-country approach to helping establish micro hydro and other technologies in rural places where electricity is difficult to come by. Micro hydro has even proven to be more durable and sustainable than solar, though solar is cheaper and quicker to install - the reason is the depth of community involvement required. When villagers participate on longer-term, complex projects, they develop pride in their work, learn invaluable new skills, and are empowered to engage with the solution.

In Zanzibar, hundreds of households too poor and remote to have access to the electrical grid are getting low cost solar power for the first time, from a group of local female engineers trained by and Indian NGO. It's the first of several "solar mamas" projects planned for parts of rural Africa, and it's turning some traditional gender roles on their head.

Grassroots organizations, Empowered by Light and Empower Generation, are killing two birds with one stone: bringing clean energy to rural Nepal, and creating jobs for Nepalese women in the environmental sector. By helping to install electricity-generating solar panels, which simultaneously prevents illegal animal poaching, women are provided not only with a stable income and a ladder to reliable economic growth, but also with a rich work-life balance, allowing them to become “clean energy entrepreneurs” while continuing to care for their families and tend to their village’s needs.

Three women have embraced the use of solar technology to become clean energy entrepreneurs. They are helping bring light, efficient cookstoves, and energy to their communities, while reducing carbon emissions and empowering other women along the way.

Rahr Malting, a brewery in Shakopee, MN, has found a creative way to sustainably address their energy needs. The company partners with the Mdewakanton Sioux Community to use waste barley hulls from the malting factory to generate electricity for their facilities, selling excess power to the public grid while the waste heat sprouts the malt to make beer.

The commercially-based Wind for Prosperity initiative may have devised a solution to meet growing demands for electricity in developing economies, where fossil fuels are expensive, difficult to access, and take a toll on environmental and human health. The venture works to refurbish wind turbines from Europe and re-deploy them in the developing world, providing clean and affordable power where it’s needed most.

A bright young man named William took it upon himself to bring electricity to his small, rural village in Malawi, despite having few resources at his disposal. William invented a windmill using recycled materials, and successfully generated power for his home. His incredible ingenuity attracted international attention, inspiring others as far away as Portsmouth University to design windmills that are financially and physically accessible for the world's rural poor living off the grid.

A local energy cooperative in Colorado, Delta Montrose Electric Association, is spurring economic development through renewable energy. The program has allowed Delta County to diversify energy sources, and has become a tool for economic revitalization.

Micro-hydro projects in the United States have become much more accessible and more financially viable since Congress passed a law in 2013 making it easier for small hydroelectric projects to get federal approval. Specifically, water treatment plants that can retrofit their systems to generate electricity are an excellent energy opportunity. The plant in Grand Lake now produces more electricity than it consumes.

A solar-grid station is powering rural Yemeni communities on the front-line of the war and in the midst of COVID-19, while also empowering women who typically have very few professional opportunities. The microgrid project supplies the community with affordable and clean energy, replacing expensive diesel generators which are bad for the environment. Electricity bills have been cut by 65 percent, an impressive gain in one of the world's poorest country. Thousands of entrepreneurs have generated income based on the new electricity source and many more have benefitted from new services and products available.