World Business

An infusion of new cardinal will allow these firms to lamina up, lower costs, and improve childbirth chains

By Byron Kennard and Scott Sklar

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President-elect Barack Obama’s top priority is an economic stimulus digest he can sign into law soon after taking office. He’s calling for "a scheme big enough to meet the challenges we face."

We hope it’s in like manner a plan that is small enough to meet these challenges—a custom that revs up the engine of our good husbandry: America’s 27 million small businesses. These small firms produce half of the gross domestic product, employ half of the private-sector workforce, and create 60% to 80% of whole net new jobs, according to the Small Business Administration.

If Obama’s economic stimulus plan is to succeed, clearly it must include a sharp point of convergence on job creation by the agency of small businesses. The President-elect has also declared that "a commencing energy economy" is going to be a pinnacle priority while he takes office. Most clean tech companies are startups and, hence, insignificant. For example, over 70% of renewable fuel producers are moderate firms, according to the U.S. House Committee on Small Business.

As it is, such companies are trying to scale up, lower costs, and improve delivery chains to their customer debased. An inculcation of new capital will empower them to get market demand that is before that time growing. Here’s how this could happen—and fast, too.

Numerous federal programs are authorized to assist trivial businesses in one way or another. These programs are up and running; they are funded. The economic stimulus plan should assign a green priority to these programs, and the new Administration should see to the implementation of this priority throughout the federal government.

For example, small business energy efficiency and renewable energy projects qualify because of the 7(a) Loan Guaranty Program administered through the SBA. These loans can have existence used for construction, renovation, and acquisition of machinery and equipment. This means that preferable small businesses can use 7(a) loans to purchase energy-efficient equipment or to make their facilities more energy efficient. The problem is that the SBA does almost nothing to promote 7(a) loans for these purposes. New leadership at the SBA should travel over this a priority.

Other federal small business programs that could be mobilized to set attached the plan include the Agriculture Dept.’s Rural Utility Service and Farmers Home Loan Administration loans, the Energy Dept.’s loan guarantees, the Homeland Security Dept. state grants, the Environmental Protection Agency’session EnergyStar programs, the Energy Dept./EPA glory grants, and the Labor Dept.’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development initiative.

Specifically, the economic provocation plan should:

1. Instruct the previously mentioned programs to prioritize altogether tech companies.

2. Prioritize projects that shape small function energy costs through increased efficiency. EPA’s EnergyStar Small Business program, during example, has documented how voluntary action by small walk of life owners can reduce energy costs by 30% or more. But EnergyStar, the parent program, spends only about 1% of its $50 million package on unintellectual business, level though the sector makes up half of the thrift. EnergyStar’s resources should be reallocated to greatly increase technical assistance to small business owners.

3. Prioritize projects that facilitate small business use of renewable energy and micropower technologies. Small business owners have no better way to get reliable energy than from installing micropower devices—small, modular devices that bring into existence renewable power in succession a unintelligent scale for use on-site (such as roof-top solar panels and molecular wind turbines). There’s an affinity in the present life: Because both the size of the cause and the balance of the technology are small, they fit together, hand in glove. Solar wet heaters, for example, are particularly suitable for cafeterias and laundries. Such technologies often make economic moral perception for small firms.

The promontory of this government-wide strategy, for example we see it, is to make capital available to both small business producers and small business consumers of clean technologies. This infusion will help coalesce a fate of deals, particularly allowing that repaired capital enables altogether tech companies to go furiously down costs. New jobs will flow from these transactions in abundance.

The rustic of necessity these jobs desperately, so urge is of the essence. For their part, small businesses are renowned for their speed and affability. They can turn around on a dime. But what about government? Since the measures proposed here do not require unaccustomed laws, recently made known appropriations, or unaccustomed programs, here’sitting one instance whenever government might be able to act swiftly too. The sooner, the better!

Original text: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2008/sb20081218_516056.htm?campaign_id=rss_smlbz