Faced with replacing a 35-year old oil furnace in their Ellicott City home, Baltimore Symphony musicians Robert Barney and his wife, Julie Parcells, decided on a geothermal heating and cooling system with a hefty price tag of $30,000.
But between tax credits from Howard County, the state and federal governments and hoped-for energy savings, they expect to recoup their cost in five years.
"I'm just really happy" with the system, Barney said. "I don't have anything burning in the basement. It's quiet, and I think oil is going to go way higher."
Homeowners like Barney and Parcells are fueling a local and national surge in the purchase of both solar and geothermal home energy units, according to government and industry officials.
Howard's energy incentive credit program will, for the first time, hit its $250,000 annual spending ceiling, up from $160,000 in credits in fiscal 2009, said Linda Watts, chief of the county Bureau of Revenue. The county allows $5,000 tax credits for geothermal or whole-house solar, and $1,500 for solar hot water. Howard already has 23 applicants waiting for fiscal 2011, Watts said, though that period doesn't start until next July.
The trend is being repeated across the Baltimore area and nationally, officials said.
Maryland granted $3.25 million worth of credits for 530 solar installations and 202 geothermal systems in the fiscal year just ended, said Department of Energy spokeswoman Christina Twomey. Funding this fiscal year will depend on federal stimulus money and Maryland's Strategic Energy Investment Funds, Twomey said. Maryland is one of 10 states participating in a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in which they sell CO2 emission allowances to utility companies and use the proceeds to lower carbon emissions.
Harford County officials said the number of tax credit recipients climbed from 25 to 60 since last year. Anne Arundel has 33 applicants for fiscal 2010, which began July 1, up from 10 last year, said Walter Tolliver, the county's tax billing manager. Prince George's County just started a credit program, but in Montgomery County, which began its program one year ago, 55 people have qualified for $250,000 in credits, said Eric Coffman, the program administrator. Montgomery just approved a loan program to help people buy renewable energy systems. The loan stays with the property as a lien until it is paid off, Coffman said.
