I want to burn firewood to save on heating costs. Burning wood releases CO2 but so does a power plant burning coal to make electricity to heat my house. Can you quantify the tradeoff? Which is better?

Coal and wood are energy sources that essentially have the same origin – Energy from the sun, that has been converted into chemical potential energy, stored in the bonds of carbohydrates through the process of photosynthesis.  In both cases, this …