WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Despite a tight budget year, suburban Maryland is investing big in going green in hopes of racking up future savings.

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission will begin using 14 403-foot-high turbines Monday to deliver one-third of the utility’s operating power over the next 10 years. WSSC officials expect to save $20 million over the next 10 years on energy costs through the use of wind power.

“Basically, one of the leading costs we have is energy,” spokesman John White said. “All the pumps we use are run by electricity now, so by accessing wind power we’ll be keeping those costs down.”

In the first year alone, WSSC officials say their wind-power use will cut carbon dioxide by 83.7 million pounds per year, sulfur dioxide by 583,000 pounds per year and a pre-cursor to ozone by 188,000 pounds a year, the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the Capital Beltway.

WSSC leaders have been planning on investing in wind power for several years, so consumers will not see an immediate cost reduction because the energy change was already factored into the utility’s budget.

Meanwhile, Montgomery County Council members, who recently passed a package of bills aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, are also hoping to add more hybrid buses to their fleet in the coming fiscal year.

Council members approved $12.7 million Tuesday to order 42 new clean diesel buses this June, but said they plan to fulfill the rest of a request from County Executive Ike Leggett to add clean diesel buses by buying hybrids in the fiscal year that begins in July.

Hybrid buses cost about $497,000 each compared with $323,000 for clean diesel buses, but hybrids average about 4.0 miles per gallon of fuel compared with 2.9 miles per gallon for clean diesel buses. Replacing battery packs in hybrids, which typically is needed once in the vehicle’s lifetime, costs about $50,000 per bus, making the clean-diesel vehicles much more economical overall.

“Clean-diesel buses are less expensive but our estimates were based on fuel costing less than $3 a gallon,” Council Member George Leventhal said. “Now that diesel costs are edging up, hybrids are becoming more cost-competitive — it’s a tough call.”

 kmiller@dcexaminer.com