Rural Zimbabwe received solar power as part of the United Nations Global Environmental Facility’s program.

The program provided 12,000 solar systems for rural homes, clinics, schools, and business centers. The program’s original goal of 9,000 systems was exceeded.

Dr. Edward Woell, a member of the history faculty at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, said that programs like the one in Zimbabwe will help keep Africa’s economic development in tune with ecological realities.

"Africa need not make the same mistake that Europe and America made in their economic development, which was to contribute to ecological destruction through reliance upon heavy fossil fuels," he said.

The program was originally started in 1993 as a pilot program to reduce the problem of global pollution by substituting solar energy for paraffin and candles. The program was extended and now works to achieve global benefits in four areas: protecting biological diversity, reducing greenhouse gases, protecting international waters, and protecting the ozone layer.

Justine Sanchez, member of Solar Energy International, said that solar power is most environmentally beneficial.

"Solar electric panels change sunlight into electricity", she said," when a solar panel creates electricity there is no fuel used or that must be mined, processed or transported. Also the use of solar electricity gives off no exhaust so there is no air pollution."

Tom Thompson, executive director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), said that if people in the developing world hope to "enjoy" a standard of living comparable to the developed world, it will be received through renewable power.

"If the 2 billion people on the planet with no power and the over 1 billion who only have electricity intermittently were to get it from coal and other fossil fuels, we’d have an oil crisis and run out of breathable air," he said, "So installing solar in rural Zimbabwe can provide a replicable model for the rest of the developing world."

According the NESEA the new solar systems can be used in an almost infinite variety of ways: for purifying water, cooking food, pumping water, powering communication systems (radios, televisions, computers), and as a means of powering economic development.

According to the Pan African News Agency, project manager Gibson Mandishona said that renewable energies were the hope for the future because they abated global warming and environmental stress.

"Zimbabwe," he said, "could lead the Southern African Development Community region into the era of modern renewable energy."

According to Solar Energy International (SEI), solar energy is beneficial to the environment when compared to the other options.

Bringing grid power to these areas is far too expensive and generally this power come from burning coal which creates massive amounts of air pollution.

Another option is hydroelectric dams that effect the surrounding areas by flooding some areas and cutting off water to other areas.

Gas powered generators are also an option for power in rural areas but these are very noisy, fairly expensive, and highly polluting.

Sanchez said that one of the most common practices right now is to use car batteries to power lights and small TVs and radios.

"They take these batteries to central charging stations, which usually use the grid or a diesel fired generator," she said," If these folks had a solar panel for recharging purposes they would no longer have to haul the batteries back and forth or use fossil produced power to recharge them."

According to PANA, Madishona said that a successor project was being developed to begin in 1999.

"My hope is that if a new project takes place it should drastically improve the coverage of solar home systems," he said, "The successor project if accomplished, will solidly put Zimbabwe on a worldwide renewable energy map."