Ms. McDonough (“Scarborough sees the sun,” March 14) states that she was able to replace her boiler which burned 400 gallons per year with a wood pellet burning stove which burned only 3.5 tons of pellets. Saving money is a compelling and rational justification to have made the conversion. However, she also states, “I just can’t go along with continuing to light things on fire, I mean, yes, we use wood pellets, but wood is ‘modern carbon,’ not fossil carbon.”

A gallon of heating oil emits approximately 22.384 pounds of CO2 per gallon when burned which translates into a total 8,954 pounds of CO2 emissions when she burned 400 gallons. A pound of bone dry wood-pellets emits approximately the same CO2 per pound as coal, which on average is 3.667 pounds, which means she produced a total of 25,669 pounds of CO2 emissions burning her 7,000 pounds of wood pellets. The BTU content of the two fuel quantities are comparable.

If being “green” and reducing CO2 emissions is the primary objective then burning “modern carbon” which increased her home emissions footprint 187 percent is a very irrational way to “impact the environment.”

W.L. Downes

Cape Elizabeth