Dell made an announcement today that I think is a good example and makes a lot of sense. All companies should be doing this, and the energy and resource savings would be significant.

Dell will reduce paper usage by offering shareholders a new way to enroll in electronic delivery of the company’s annual 10-K report, proxy statement and other financial materials. They also announced plans to avoid the use of nearly 255,000 pounds of paper by replacing the printed “Year in Review” with an interactive online resource center.

Dell shareholders can enroll in free electronic delivery of financial materials by visiting the Investor Relations section of the company’s Web site. Under the expanded program, shareholders will have access to Web-based reports, executive messages and can receive timely information on Dell’s global business. For each shareholder who participates, Dell will make a donation to The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org to plant a new tree in a sustainably managed forest. In addition to new trees, the company estimates total potential savings of 678,000 pounds of paper, or the equivalent of more than 7,000 trees if 100 percent of its shareholders participate.

Dell’s policies towards forest stewardship also include efforts to increase use of recycled-content paper throughout the company’s global operations, including catalogs, product packaging and office use, and increase use of paper from Forest Stewardship Certified sources. The company recently announced it had exceeded its five-year goal to use 50 percent recycled content by 2009. Dell’s marketing publications now use an average of 50 percent recycled content paper—and many publications use up to 90 percent.