When I did the Massive Change interview back in 2004, I was asked mostly about solar home lighting systems and the use of microfinance as a way of making this technology affordable to rural households in the developing world. Aside from a brief discussion of wireless communications, I didn’t really go into the multiple ways in which solar…
Month: May 2008
Solar Microcredit: It Works!
In the nineties, through a series of solar pilot projects around the world, SELF demonstrated the willingness and ability of rural families to pay for solar electricity at the household level if they are given access to credit. Even though SELF is a nonprofit organization, we did not believe that giving these systems away outright…
Video: A look back at SELF’s conservation award
On Oct. 28, 2005, SELF was honored as a recipient of Chevron’s 2005 Conservation Award. Watch this clip of Chevron´s video presentation at the award ceremony >>
The UN’s Millennium Development Goals: What’s Missing?
Formulated by the United Nations as a blueprint for meeting the needs of the world’s poorest citizens, the Millennium Development Goals, or “MDGs” as they’re referred to, set forth a bold and comprehensive prescription for eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, and protecting the environment. Astonishingly,…
Why Blog? Because Energy is a Human Right.
“Energy is a human right.” We use the phrase daily at the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a Washington, DC – based nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring solar power to rural and remote villages in the developing world. But what does the phrase really mean? After all, people talk about human rights; they talk about…