The sun is shining, the weather is (for some of us, at least) sweet - and Smarta has been jolted out of winter's apathetic stupor by the sunshine and remembered there's still a planet to save. Kick off your spring by going green with these five ways to cut your business' consumption - sooner, rather than later.

1. Turn the heating down

Yes, it may still feel like mid-January, but the weather's finally warming up - so take the opportunity to turn your heating down. According to the Carbon Trust, cranking down the heating by just one degree could save you 10% on your heating bill - so it's not just the planet you're saving.

2. Switch off

It's an obvious one - but the average office still wastes around £6,000 each year by leaving equipment on over weekends and bank holidays. Before you leave the office, make sure all the printers, computers and monitors are turned off. If you're not the last one to leave, appoint someone else to do it.

3. Incentivise

We all know it's up to us as individuals to do the right thing to save the planet - but somehow, that goes out of the window when you've spent the day in a high-stress environment. Instead of simply expecting your employees to behave sustainably, incentivise them by rewarding those who carpool, recycle and reduce their wastage with a sustainability bonus. It doesn't have to be big - a bottle of champagne will do. But using the carrot, rather than a stick approach could see a huge boost your business's green credibility.

4. Green up your distribution

If your business ever ships large items, use a service such as Shiply, which allows hauliers to bid for your job and fill spare space in their vehicles at the same time. It cuts down on carbon emissions and saves you hiring an entire van for a relatively small item - which could cut costs, too.

5. Measure up, cut down

Having an idea of how much your business consumes will help you set targets to cut emissions. Use an energy consumption monitor such as DIY Kyoto's lovely Wattson to measure how much energy you're using - then cut back accordingly. Simples!

We don't want you clogging up your tweet streams, so we've sleceted the absolute creme de la creme of tweeters talking to the freelance community. Follow these guys (as well as @smartaHQ, of course!), and you'll get all the advice, insider tips and job offers you can dream of. Add your own suggestions in the comments section below.

@peopleperhour.com

Who are they? Peopleperhour.com is a site that lets you bid for a massive range of contracts from anywhere in the world. Projects are all managed remotely so you can sign off the work without ever leaving your house.
Follow them for: a steady stream of newly available contracts, so you never miss an opportunity.
Visit Peopleperhour.com
Peopleperhour.com is a Smarta 100 winner. Find out why we like it so much.

@FreelanceSW

Who are they? The team behond Freelanceswitch.com, a community of freelancers and website packed with articles and freelance-specific advice.
Follow them for: tips and useful articles.
Visit Freelanceswitch.com

@freelancefolder

Who are they? Freelancefolder.com is brilliant website packed with articles and tips, along with freelancer forums and a job board. This is where they share the love throughout the day.
Follow them for: advice and to get your questions and responses answered (they're nice and chatty!).
Visit Freelancefolder.com

@Work_Freelance

Who are they? These guys tweet nothing but new jobs up for grabs - perfect for a steady stream of potential revenue.
Follow them for: new work opportunities.

@freelancermag

Who are they? Freelancer Magazine includes articles, advice, directories and resources for the freelance community.
Follow them for: useful links and occasional product reviews for freelance-related stuff.
Visit Freelancermagazine.com

@Elance

Who are they? Elance.com lets you create a profile and apply for contracts for anything from engineering to administration. 
Follow them for: useful articles.
Visit Elance.com

Looking for resources and free tools for every aspect of your business? We've got the best tried-and-tested ones for everything in our tools section.

Well, readers, I hate to say I told you so - but I did. And so it was that, with 36% of the vote and almost unanimous agreement in the papers that in a better world, he would not only be our next Chancellor but also take over the throne when the Queen's turn is over, Vince Cable came out of last night's Chancellors Debate looking more competent, more experienced and far, far less silly than the other two.

But as Tory shadow Chancellor George Osborne rather meanly put it during the debate, 'there's never going to be a Liberal Democrat government' - so for now, at least, the man who should be in charge of running the nation's finances, if not the entire world, is forced to take the back seat while the other two battle it out among themselves.

The debate was a polite affair: as someone on the Guardian Daily podcast put it, this is what the media looks like when you ask someone a question and let them answer without interrupting. There were a few accusations, but generally, the tone was mild; the questions were answered and the politicians all left feeling they had done a jolly good job.

The only real moment of excitement came when Alistair Darling reprimanded Osborne over his plans to put off a 1% rise in National Insurance Contributions.

"For the last year you have been saying that you needed to cut debt further and faster, and yet today, the first opportunity you had when you thought you had identified some savings, instead of cutting debt you have promised to change the National Insurance contributions," Darling spat.

"You are spending nearly £30bn over a Parliament and you can't identify the credible way with which you can pay for that.That really is an irresponsible risk. It is poor, poor judgement."

Oh dear, George: although I can't help but suspect that particular announcement had been rushed out somewhat after someone at Conservative HQ realised unless there was some sort of solid fiscal measure somewhere in Tory policy, Osborne wasn't going to have a lot else to talk about during the debate.

Still: the point is, Cable, who can lay claim to having predicted the recession, came out on top. Darling, who has gone a long way to solving the recession, could certainly carry himself with a certain amount of pride afterwards.

Osborne has yet to prove himself. While he didn't make any stupendous gaffes during last night's performance, he certainly didn't surprise anyone. His challenge now is to demonstrate to voters he is experienced enough to lead the economy. Otherwise, well, I know I'm not the only person who believes there are others who might be better suited to the job.

In the run-up to any election, nothing's more juicy than a good debate - and given the position of economic issues at the centre of all three parties' campaigns, this evening's debate between the Chancellor and the chancellors-in-waiting is set to be one of the juciest of all.

And at the forefront of the debate will be national insurance contributions (NICs), after the Conservatives announced this morning they will reverse Darling's planned 1p increase in NICs - a policy which is ' set to form the centrepiece' of the Tory election campaign, according to insiders.

David Cameron has been ranting about the rise since it was announced during the pre-Budget report; ' tax on jobs' being his preferred epithet - but with this announcement, the Tories have bowed to pressure from the shadow cabinet to come up with solid economic policies, rather than vague wafflings about tax cuts.

But will it help the Tories' popularity? With the parties now just five points apart in the polls, and Alistair Darling enjoying a post-Budget surge in popularity, the Tories desperately need tonight's debate to go their way.

While putting off the rise in NICs is a nice idea, I'm not sure it's going to be the Conservatives' election-winning policy: it may have grabbed some nice headlines today, but in reality, given that almost three-quarters of businesses in the UK don't have any employees at all, I doubt it's anything more than an attempt to shore up popularity before tonight's showdown.

Either way, we will see tonight. Just for the record, my money's on Vince Cable to come out on top. Or at least with his dignity intact.

Image: Flickr

WealthyStudent.co.uk's Steve Burford on why university is the ideal time to start-up.

University: every man and his dog is now going. People's reasons for attending are many and various: some just go because everyone else is, some know (or hope) getting a degree will improve their career opportunities, some don't really know what they want to do with their lives. Either way, university provides you with a wealth of opportunities.

Most people pick up new skills, meet new people and are able to demonstrate a unique ability to live on five potatoes, a pack of fish fingers and a couple of cans of beans a week. For me, though, uni was the perfect opportunity to start a business.

Although I didn't start-up until late in my second year, it was just the right time. I had a part-time job and had managed to save up about £10,000. At one point, the manager refused to give me a 50p-per-hour pay rise and I lost the plot. I quit pretty much straight away.

Within a week I had come up with an idea  I wanted to pursue. It was all about helping students through university financially, giving advice, finding deals etc. Debt still is a big problem for students and I felt that I could set something up that could make a difference.

Think about it: university is the perfect opportunity to start a business. You have:

• A cheap roof over you head covered by your loan
• Support from your uni enterprise society
• The a perfect market research environment - namely, students at your uni
• The chance to network with others at university who were starting a business

When you leave, there are all sorts of other pressures you have to think about:

• You don't have any loan coming in to cover rent
• More expensive rent
• Extra council bills you don't get as a student
• Not as much of a support system as at university
• Pressure to make a decision about what you are doing with your life/career

At university, you have that freedom to express yourself and to try new things. Starting a business is no exception to that rule. It's a wonderful time to test, research and learn about business. Even if it doesn't get off the ground by the time you finish university you will have picked up so many new skills that employers love to see.

I had to get a job for six months after I graduated and was offered a well-paid job at my very first interview. There's no way I would have got it without starting a business.

As long as you're very tight with your money and don't spend much setting up, university is probably the most risk-free place to start a business. In fact, it's a massive advantage to your future career if you do set one up - win or lose.

Get creative, be imaginative, stay persistent and start a business today.

• Steve Burford runs WealthyStudent.co.uk, an advice and support site for students and recent graduates. Follow him on Twitter at @wealthystudent or @steveburford.

I've just come back from a two-week holiday in India. I read Aravind Adiga's brilliant novel The White Tiger while I was out there. It's the rags to riches story of a Delhi-based entrepreneur. But this is no fairytale. His success depends on taking the gritty, bloody, corrupt or dishonest path at pretty much every junction. The novel suggests this is the only way to make it to the top, if you start out at the bottom. It pokes uncomfortably at many of the misconceptions we tend to have about the exciting new entrepreneurial scene in India, and highlights a lot of corruption and unfairness going on behind closed doors - and a crushing number of barriers to those of lower 'castes'.

Reading the book, and being able to see small examples of its truth, made me really take a step back and think about the state of entrepreneurialism in the UK. It made me feel a totally refreshed sense of appreciation for how incredibly lucky we are as people doing business here. Sure, we might grumble. But starting up and running a business in the UK is actually pretty great. And it's well, well worth a shot if you're not doing it already. Here are a few reasons why:

1.    We don't have to bribe anyone to be able to run our businesses in peace. Not the police, not politicians, not bigger businesses.

2.    We can make things happen for ourselves, regardless of our social-economic background. It doesn't matter whether you grew up in a council estate or a country mansion - you can still start up an incredible business, and people will respect you for that no matter what.

3.    We have charities and social enterprises like The Prince's Trust and the Bright Ideas Trust to help out those without access to finance from elsewhere. Everything can be within our reach here if we're willing to work hard enough for it.

4.    We have access to more than 600,000 grant schemes to help us on our way. (Find out more about how to win a grant or search for small business grants.)

5.    We understand that the traditional model of education isn't for everyone. So the government offers traineeships and vocational qualifications and apprenticeships to help us get the skills we need to run our businesses.

6.    We have a thriving entrepreneurial community who are always ready to help each other out, rather than step over each other in a scramble to the top. The Smarta community is a prime example of how willing business owners are to help each other.

7.    We have amazing access to free business resources - whether that's books from your local library, market research reports from the British Library's Business & IP Centre, your local Business Link centre, or Smarta itself - there is always free resource there for you.

8.    We can trade with almost any country on the planet we like, and the government's UK Trade & Investment department will be there to help us every step of the way. And we don't have to bribe them for assistance!

9.    We can outsource like crazy to slash costs. Even though the pound is struggling, it's still stronger than the vast majority of currencies out there. That means we can outsource all our boring functions or IT or development work or phone-answering systems to countries where labour is much cheaper.

10.    Our legal system is very reliable compared to the rest of the world's. It's not perfect, obviously, but if a dodgy business partner or supplier screws you over, you can do something about it, and usually get your money back. Read this case study to see what we mean.

I remember listening to an interview on the Today Programme with Alistair Darling just after the pre-Budget report back in December. In a moment of Mrs Merton-esque incredulity, presenter Evan Davies began: "Tell me, Chancellor. What made you decide to raise benefits just before the election?"

Indeed - after yesterday's Budget, in which the rich (and scrumpy-lovers) lost out and those at the lower end of the earning scale seemed to be the winners, it was difficult not to observe the parties well and truly gearing up for the election.

It was a clever Budget, actually. With the economy still struggling to recover from the recession - £167bn worth of borrowing may be less than was expected but it's still, as Management Today put it, 'a pretty horrendous number' - to the Labour government, the business vote counts for more than ever before.

And on the surface of it, small businesses were the winners: a one-year cut to business rates, a new credit adjudication service for businesses who think they've lost out unfairly on a bank loan and a guarantee that banks will lend more than £90bn this year were all encouraging. Darling also gave you a one-year cut in business rates, capital gains tax relief for entrepreneurs and a promise to give more government contracts to entrepreneurs.

But what of the things he didn't mention? A hike in Employers' National Insurance contributions, announced during the pre-Budget report, was only briefly alluded to (although David Cameron dwelled on it for longer, describing it as 'a tax on every job in the country'), while a 1p rise in fuel duty is going to be very expensive for thousands of businesses.

The clamp-down on non-doms is also a big issue. Darling's measures to expose those who are hiding their income in Belize, Dominica and Grenada elicited a roar of approval from the Labour front benches yesterday - but that could severely impact levels of investment in the UK. Non-doms make up a significant portion of private investors in the UK and, love them or hate them, the new measures could be devastating to businesses.

So while on the surface, it appeared Darling was trying to court the business vote, dig deeper and, to a certain extent, you are also the ones who lose out. As Cameron put it, it felt a bit as though the government was giving with one hand and taking with the other - I suppose it just comes down to whether the giving and the taking away balance out.

David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC):

"After two years of economic downturn, the Chancellor has clearly recognised the need to place business at the heart of this Budget. Doubling the annual investment allowance, help with business rates, and allowing entrepreneurs to keep more of their gains will prove especially popular.

"The Chancellor could have done more to set out a clear plan for the reduction of the budget deficit, which continues to threaten business confidence and investment."

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB):

• Disappointed and concerned that the Chancellor is proceeding with the proposed hike in National Insurance Contributions (NICs), asserting this comes at a cost of 57,000 jobs to the economy
• Pleased with the announcement to take 345,000 small businesses in England out of the business rates system, saying business rates are the third highest outlay for small businesses
• Looks forward to the introduction of the new credit adjudicator for rejected bank loan applications
• Remains concerned at the 1p per litre increase in fuel duty next month, although says the proposal to phase in the increase will be of some help
• Happy about the announcement to direct more public sector contracts towards SMEs and thinks it will particularly help businesses employing less than 10 people
• Welcomes the extended time period for paying tax bills and the doubling of the Entrepreneurs Relief

Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business:

"There's a sense that this was a budget for an election and that the Government is courting the small business vote. It would have been more encouraging to see some real political responsibility and measures to address difficult issues, like public sector pensions, which we need to tackle in order to keep the UK competitive in the longer term.

"My initial reaction is that there was quite a bit of give, give, give in the Budget, but nothing new - and nothing to address the serious issues this country faces. I cautiously welcome the way the Chancellor acknowledged the importance of smaller businesses to economic recovery."

Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI):

"With the election just weeks away, this was a clever, political budget. However, anxiety remains on how the deficit is going to be paid down, and the growth forecasts for 2011 and beyond are still on the optimistic side.

"There was more support for business than might have been expected, with a series of modest but helpful changes. The doubling of entrepreneurs' CGT relief will help investment in small businesses and the extra money for science places at university will be welcomed by industry.

"However, it is the big fiscal decisions over the next 12 months that will really determine the UK's economic future."

Christian Arno, entrepreneur and founder of Lingo24:

"The move on business rates, relief on capital gains tax and a doubling of the annual investment allowance are small measures, but added together, they make the entrepreneurial game a more attractive one. The country absolutely needs entrepreneurs to be firing on all cylinders and convinced this is the place to do business, and that they'll be rewarded and supported here. The additional support - from the Growth Capital fund to the commitment to award 15% of government contracts to UK SMEs - are also very helpful.

"All this said, we think this country will not start motoring economically (at least not sustainably) until we as a nation are much more export-focused, like successful modern economies like Sweden and Switzerland. We would like to see the government focus more support on helping companies take advantage of the foreign language internet - the fact it's much easier to market in foreign languages than English - particularly in this period of a weak pound. [...]

"We would also like to see incentives for business to help young people - those at school or university - to monetise the superior internet understanding they have. This will be crucial as the web's role in business becomes ever more critical."

David Bywater, tax partner at KPMG:

"The amount of time that the Chancellor's speech spent addressing the issues facing SMEs demonstrates that he does recognize the value that they have to UK economy and that after two years of tough economic condition and with income dead, access to cash remains a priority.  The main bank lenders into the SME sector (RBS and Lloyds) have been mandated to lend at least £47bn to struggling small businesses which is great news and the Chancellor also signalled that he is encouraging competition to the small lending sector with the introduction of new banks; offering a further life line to SMEs. [...]

"The Chancellor could have gone further and relaxed the rules to deliver entrepreneurs' relief to angel investors.  The relaxations to the VCT and EIS schemes will make it easier for certain businesses to raise equity capital, and these measures are welcome.

"Whilst the Chancellor did spend time talking about the Government's commitment to encouraging more jobs in the SME sector, his failure to address the National Insurance Contribution increase from April 2011 remains a very direct tax on employment."

Here's our round-up of all the main proposals in Darling's speech that would have an impact on small businesses - and what you should make of them. Please do share your reactions in the comments section below.

Money

• Everyone in the UK is to be guaranteed access to a bank account. This will extend the facility to more than a million currently denied it, the chancellor says.
• Agreements with RBS and Lloyds that they'll lend at least half of a £94bn pot to small and medium-sized businesses.
• Small businesses will have the right to appeal if they are turned down for bank finance. Complaints will be fast-tracked through a new credit adjudicator service.
• Labour will create a new investment corporation called UK Finance For Growth to handle a support system for businesses worth £4bn.

Tax

• The main rate of National Insurance Contributions will go up by 1p, but not until April next year. The rise won't apply to anyone earning less than £20,000.
• Next month's planned 3p increase in fuel duty will be staged to soften the blow. It will go up by 1p in April, another 1p in October and a final 1p in January 2011.
• Alcohol duty will rise. On cider it will go up by 10% from midnight tonight.
• Tobacco duty will increase by 1% immediately.
• Entrepreneur relief for capital gains tax will double. (The main rate of capital gains tax will stay the same.)
• Business rates will be cut for a year from October, meaning a reduction for 500,000 small firms in England. 345,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all!
• Tougher measures on non-doms, which may hurt non-dom investors' willingness to make money through venture capital funds in the UK.

New opportunities

• The number of government contracts that go to small and medium-sized firms will increase by 15%.
• The annual investment allowance will be doubled to help new companies get off the ground.
• Darling aims to set up a 'green bank'. It'll control £2bn of equity and will invest in green transport and energy, with wind turbines first on the investment hit-list.
• There will be a £35m university enterprise capital fund to help student and graduate start-up companies and uni spin-outs. £270m to create 20,000 more places for maths, science and engineering degrees will feed nicely into this.
• A new Growth Capital Fund will offer £500m to small businesses in need of finance - £200m of which will be provided by banks.

Employees

• The government is looking into scrapping the compulsory retirement age.
• The guaranteed offer of work or training for those under 24 who are unemployed for more than six months will be extended until March 2012.

What it means for you

First things first - the vast majority of this assumes Labour get re-elected, which isn't looking all that likely. It might still be just about possible, and even more so with a Budget like this, which has pretty obviously adopted a populist stance of tax the rich to help the poor and struggling (you can read the full transcript containing all measures here). But it's unlikely.

But one thing's for sure: Labour are definitely pulling out a good few stops to try to lure small businesses back into their camp. More bank lending to and investment in struggling and green businesses, encouraging university spin-outs, doubling the annual investment allowance - all send a very pro-enterprise message. But there's nothing that ground-breaking here. Labour are always announcing new funds for new businesses. That's not to say it's not welcome, just not revolutionary.

Encouraging university enterprise centres is smart - there's lots of good stuff coming out of them, and a lot of young people need support with figuring out how to monetise their great inventions.

The business rates are the real winner here we reckon - that'll be very welcome news to loads of you. We also like the potential scrapping of the compulsory retirement age (find out why we'd like this to happen).

We're not sure how the guarantee of all those jobs for young people is going to happen. If small businesses get incentivised to employ them, great - if not, it's surely a bit of an empty promise. And increasing the number of government contracts for small businesses - we've heard it all before and it never seems to happen. (Find out more about public sector procurement as a small business.)

But it's really bad news for the pub and bar industry, who always seem to get a bashing in the Budget. The enormous 10% hike on alcohol duty on cider is awful, and will really squeeze the often small orchards and brewers who make it. Less severe but more general increases to alcohol duty and tobacco duty are no great surprise but still a nasty blow to an industry that's already suffered heavily throughout the recession and really could do with a bit of a break. Surely there are better ways to deter the public from overdoing it with fags and booze?

Overall, we quite like this Budget as far as most small businesses are concerned. That said, it is far, far easier to make all these brilliant promises when it's looking like you won't have to follow up on a single one of them. And it wouldn't be the first time a government had made promises to try to rally support when deep down it never had a single intention of following through with them.

This Thursday is the brilliant Twestival, and we've got two pairs of tickets to give away to two of you lucky ducks for the London Twestival. Email competitions@smarta.com with 'Twestival' in the subject line for a chance to win.

If you haven't yet heard of Twestival, it's a massive meet-up fuelled by music, booze and great company for local users of Twitter in cities all around the world, all in aid of charity. This Twestival is supporting Concern Worldwide, which aims to eliminate extreme poverty across the globe. Previous Twestivals have raised more than $450,000, so this one should really help a vital cause.

This is a great opportunity to meet up with people in your area, do some fun networking with the top peeps in tech and business and have a downright fantastic time while you're at it - all while helping a really admirable cause. So get entering and good luck!