With energy prices soaring and the American economy sputtering, Senators John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the chair and ranking member respectively of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship recently urged the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to implement the small-business energy initiatives contained in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which became public law 110-140 in December of 2007.

The letter, addressed to the SBA’s acting administrator, Jovita Carranza, began: “There are nearly 26 million small businesses in this country, representing nearly 26 million business owners that are focused on keeping their doors open and putting food on the table for their families. The National Small Business Association’s recently released 2008 survey of small and mid-sized business reported that spikes in energy costs have negatively impacted 77 percent of small-business owners. In response to rising costs, 37 percent of businesses have increased their prices, 33 percent have reduced their business travel, 11 percent have cut their production schedule, and 10 percent have reduced their workforce…”

Kerry and Snowe went on to enumerate the specific aspects of the law aimed at assisting U.S. small businesses. Among other things, the bill required SBA to implement a government-wide program, built on the ENERGY STAR Small Business program, to help small businesses become more energy efficient, understand the potential cost savings from improved energy efficiency, and identify financing options for energy-efficiency upgrades.

It also tasked the SBA with establishing a Small Business Energy Efficiency Program—through select Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)—and expanding the list of permissible uses for SBA Express Loans to include renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements. Furthermore, the bill required the SBA to make work-site projects that reduce the borrower’s energy consumption by at least 10 percent or that generate renewable energy or renewable fuels for 504 loans and increase the maximum debenture to $4 million.

Having long advocated for a number of these provisions and highlighted SBA’s somewhat disinterested approach to them, NSBA applauds the efforts of Kerry and Snowe to rouse the agency to action.

The SBA’s current energy-efficiency guide is
available here.
Click Here to view the full letter.