Foundation Takes On Outsourcing and Alternative Energy
Posted 03/20/07
Two new studies have been approved for Foundation funding: alternative energy and outsourcing.
Tentatively titled, “Alternative Energy Equipment Financing,” this research project will investigate the renewable energy market in the United States, including addressing the current state, the business impact, and future projections for the alternative energy sector of the equipment financing industry.
Electricity production from alternative energy sources has grown dramatically since the early 1980s, such as electricity generation from biomass, geothermal, wind, and solar. But, the U.S. lags most major developed countries in its installed capacity of renewable electric power generation. Renewable electricity production accounts for less than two percent of electricity generation in the U.S. Although various alternative energy technologies and resources have been available for more than two decades, new and existing alternative energy sources are expected to play an increasing role in the overall supply of energy in the future. And, with that emphasis will come a need for financing.
The Foundation expects the alternative energy paper to be highly anticipated as 48 percent of respondents to a recent quick poll reported this market as the next topic the Foundation should tackle. With the growing importance of alternative energy as a national resource, the foundation recognizes the probable financing opportunity. Accordingly, the Foundation requested the research study to review financing options for alternative energy, including opportunities, challenges, and future considerations.
The study, to be conducted jointly by the Alta Group and Gilbert E. Metcalfe from the Economics Department of Tufts University, will include • a brief review of alternative energy technologies and their respective financing requirements, • a review of the current size of the market , both domestic and internationally, • a review of transaction structures presently being used to finance alternative energy, and • a discussion of the equipment and other collateral security currently being utilized in alternative energy.
The research group also will analyze current alternative energy equipment financing initiatives, and discuss the long-term future of financing in the alternative energy industry, as well as provide applicable case studies and financing experiences from the field.
Additionally, the Foundation research paper will provide an overview of the renewable energy market and an analysis of different policy options to support the market with an eye toward informing sensible policy in the United States. The researcher will conduct an international survey of renewable power and institutional factors favoring the alternative energy sources, survey government policies supporting renewable energy capital investments, and will identify critical policy mechanisms to support these investments as well as identify major institutional barriers to investments in this market.
The alternative energy research paper will be available to interested parties by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Annual Convention in October 2007.
Outsourcing
In addition to alternative energy, outsourcing continues to pique the interest of industry members. The Foundation has commissioned a white paper from the Alta Group on how companies in the equipment leasing and finance business can and do enhance their capabilities and performance by outsourcing business processes. Also to debut at the ELFA convention in October this year, the outsourcing white paper will address a myriad of issues including: • perceived and actual quantitative and qualitative benefits of outsourcing, • addressing the most common myths about outsourcing, • evaluating when and how to use outsourcing, • decision making – what to outsource and selecting the outsource, • how the evaluation to outsource or not improves understanding of all company operations, • internal obstacles to outsourcing and how to address them, • external obstacles to outsourcing and how to address them, • how to make outsourcing work – the responsibilities of the client company and the outsource, • how to avoid a growing gap between expectations of the outsource and the client company regarding operating priorities, • how outsourcing changes remaining operations and strategy – improvements and sharpening, • the impact of outsourcing on company and employee focus – improvements and sharpening, • how cost reduction motivation to outsource morphs into qualitative motivations such as working smarter and faster, • when outsourcing does not add any material benefit, • implications of outsourcing for operating software companies and their systems, • outsourcing related to how companies are organized and structured, and • outsourcing alternatives.
Updates will be made available on both of these projects in future issues of Foundation Forecasts.
Sites of Reference:
http://www.leasefoundation.org
CONTACT:
Lisa A. Levine, CAE
Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation
Phone Number: 703-527-8655
Fax Number: 703-465-7488
E-mail: llevine@elfaonline.org
