It can also power a video screen for teaching, run several computers and a satellite Internet connection, provide energy for a clinic and exterior and interior lighting for a school or community center. The Greenstar system is not designed to electrify every individual home in a village. It's focused on powering basic health, education, training, communication, culture and ecommerce services shared by an entire community, to jump-start development activities and sustain them through their initial painful steps. Greenstar is focused on the 2 billion rural people in the world who might otherwise never have electricity or telephones. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Greenstar is that it does not operate in traditional donor mode.
Digital products are important because they form an efficient, green fuel for ecommerce.
But the company shows that it is possible to improve life in the most difficult parts of the developing world without despoiling the environment, and to do it in a profitable business context. Paul is a former Peace Corps volunteer, who has worked extensively in journalism, investment banking, and for agencies focused on international development.