We live in a world dominated by a "center-periphery" consciousness. Access to energy, communications, information, and entertainment is concentrated in urban areas that are connected to centralized power grids. Remote villages are deprived of basic energy services and communication access.
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We live in a world dominated by a "center-periphery" consciousness. Access to energy, communications, information, and entertainment is concentrated in urban areas that are connected to centralized power grids. Remote villages are deprived of basic energy services and communication access.

When solar energy, which by its very nature is decentralized, is combined with wireless communications technology, villages need no longer be cut off and isolated just because of their physical remoteness.

SELF recognizes the need to preserve biological and cultural diversity in the face of increasing globalization. Perhaps the ultimate advantage of harnessing sunlight is the opportunity to generate clean power anywhere on the planet, in a way that promotes local self-reliance and cultural autonomy, even as rural communities become more integrated into the global economy. The marriage of solar energy and wireless communications makes possible a world in which "the center is everywhere".
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The Solar Electric Light Fund, Inc. (SELF) is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1990 to promote, develop, and facilitate solar rural electrification and energy SELF-sufficiency in developing countries.