At a average 2% conversion rate, unsolicited mailings would generate millions of dollars a year for a large, well known nonprofit. Yet ironically, many of the mailers sent on behalf of a well known environmental conservation agency came back with angry scrawled words, “Save the Trees! REMOVE!”

This tree means business. Better do what it says next time!

In a way, it was almost futile, as some of these people had donated to different charities, and the charities regularly sold their lists to each other. On top of that, if you were a subscriber to, say Outdoor magazine, your information would also eventually be purchased by one charity organization or another.

After a while, I eventually transitioned away from dead tree media and onto digital marketing. Since then, I’d given a lot of thought to how businesses can “Save the Trees!” To help you do just that, here are five tools you can use to avoid paper abuse.

1: A Web Information Portal

Rather than using handouts for all your company documents, try setting up a web portal. This can be done with paid software such as the Microsoft SharePoint platform, a free but difficult to navigate option like Google Docs, or — better — a choice that’s free and easy to use, like a WordPress site. All you need is a good business theme (such as Business Turnkey, which you can download for free), and you can integrate all your documents as pages within the blog.

2: eFax

There are various eFax services that let you send and receive faxes from a computer. Considering that these services start at just a few dollars a month — possibly less than you spend on paper and ink right now — signing up should be a no-brainer.

3: Store Sales Info Electronically

The sales process often gets involved in gratuitous paper abuse, and it’s probably not just because salesmen are pure evil (although, yes, they usually are). It’s because the “lead division” process (as well as other sales steps) is usually done by print.

Lead division can easily move to an electronic medium. A full-fledged system like SalesForce can even be integrated with WordPress-to-Lead to automate the contact-to-sales-call process, while other contact forms like Contact Form 7 and Easy Contact provide a more bare-bones but still functional alternative.

4: PDF Everything

PDF documents are the bread and Hershey’s chocolate sauce of the paper-saving process. These stable, well-formatted versions of your documents are easy to use, send, and view. What typically stands in the way is an inability to convert files to this format. Well, languish in despair and paper-wastage no longer! PDF995 is a “printer driver” that lets you convert anything you can print into a PDF document.

5: eSign Contracts

Need a document to be legally binding? Well, that doesn’t require paper and ink; in fact, it’s more likely that your finely scribed scrap of paper will be mauled by a rabid walrus, or otherwise suffer some terrible fate. Use an electronically signed document, such as those obtained through the EchoSign service instead.

You’ll save paper and make these important legal docs easier to organize and retrieve.

Keep on using services like the ones listed above and you may just avoid incurring the wrath of the trees. Even if not, at least you’ve saved a few dollars in office supply expenses.

—

Lorna Li is a social media expert and founder of a green marketing blog for green entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Visit Green Marketing 2.0 for more great tips on how to use social media for green business. Follow Lorna on Twitter @lornali.

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JuiceBar

This pocket-sized universal battery charger comes with 12 different connectors and is compatible with the iPhone. It can charge your phone several times off of one full battery, which can be juiced up via the built-in solar panels or USB connection. So if you’re stuck inside at your desk, you can use the included USB cable to charge your iPhone even if you’re unable to use the solar panels. The JuiceBar also has a helpful LED indicator light that lets you know when it’s charging and when it has a full battery. You can buy one for $49.99, which gets you all the cables and connectors you might need along with a handy storage bag.

Solio

The Solio chargers come in several different models: the gunmetal gray Classic ($99.95), the yellow Rocsta ($79.95), and the black Mono ($59.95). The Mono is compatible with over 3200 devices, including the iPhone, and can charge via solar power or USB connection. It holds a full charge for up to a year, so once you’ve got the Mono juiced up, it’s ready to go for a long time to come even if you don’t use it regularly. With intelligent charging, it never over-charges your phone’s battery, so you don’t have to worry about reduced battery life. The Classic model comes with more connector tips and has more solar panels so you can get a full solar charge more quickly. The three panels unfurl to absorb the maximum amount of solar power and can be situated according to the included guide in order to maximize efficiency. The Rocsta simply comes with more tips and has an LED light tip.

FreeLoader

For $39.99, you can purchase the FreeLoader, which charges via both solar cells and USB. A single charge lasts up to three months, so if you’re keeping this charger as an emergency back-up, make sure you re-charge it at least four times a year. Its rust-free, impact-resistant aluminum body is perfect for anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors. The solar panels even fold conveniently to make this charger compact and durable.

Solar Wave

New from Sunset Island Solar is the Solar Wave specifically designed for the iPhone 4. Priced at $55.00, it’s discounted from $79.99 and includes shipping and handling fees during the introductory offer period. The Solar Wave serves as a charger, a silicone case, and an emergency battery – just leave it on your iPhone at all times. You can order it in five different colors and rest assured that your phone’s function won’t be impaired by the case. You’ll still be able to access the sides of your phone while enjoying the protection and solar charging benefits of the Solar Wave skin. If your phone isn’t sufficiently charged by the solar cells, you can easily use a regular charger while leaving the Solar Wave on your phone.

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education, researching various online programs and blogging about student life issues. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

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Gujarat government has planned to develop solar farm in Rann of Kutch and allocate 1,500 hectares of land in the desert and a small stretch in Santalpur in Banaskantha district near Gujarat-Pakistan border. The infrastructure for this ambitious “Solar park” project will be developed by GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation.

Here is the courtesy from “Times of India”:

However, the shadow that could fall on Gujarat’s solar ambitions is that tapping energy from the Sun has so far proved technically complicated and economically unviable. Also, the scale of just one of the projects – the Clinton Foundation proposal to generate about 5,000 megawatt of power- is way larger than India’s biggest power project of 3,260MW in Vindyachal. The biggest solar power plant planned so far is a 160MW project in Portugal.

Number of companies has queued up for setting up plants due to attractive incentives offered in new Solar Power Policies. The Runn of Kutch is best place for Solar Power Generation as well as component manufacturing, “said a senior official in the chief minister’s office.

Find more details here: Solar mirrors to line border in Rann of Kutch

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