Reduces local air pollution
Use of solar electric systems decreases the amount of local air pollution. With a decrease in the amount of kerosene used for lighting, there is a corresponding reduction in the amount of local pollution produced. Solar rural electrification also decreases the amount of electricity needed from small diesel generators.

Offsets greenhouse gases
Photovoltaic systems produce electric power with no carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Carbon emission offset is calculated at approximately 6 tons of CO2 over the twenty-year life of one PV system.

Conserves energy
Solar electricity for the Third World is an effective energy conservation program because it conserves costly conventional power for urban areas, town market centers, and industrial and commercial uses, leaving decentralized PV-generated power to provide the lighting and basic electrical needs of the majority of the developing world's rural populations.

Reduces need for dry-cell battery disposal
Small dry-cell batteries for flashlights and radios are used throughout the unelectrified world. Most of these batteries are disposable lead-acid cells which are not recycled. Lead from disposed dry-cells leaches into the ground, contaminating the soil and water. Solar rural electrification dramatically decreases the need for disposable dry-cell batteries. Over 12 billion dry-cell batteries were sold in 1993.

A study for the U.S. government calculated that the gasoline equivalent of the energy saved over the lifetime of one 24-watt compact fluorescent bulb is sufficient to drive a Prius from New York to San Francisco.