NEWBURYPORT, Mass. -- A Newburyport business is using wood scraps and sawdust to keep its 80,000 square foot workspace warm this winter.

NewsCenter 5's David Brown reported that at Mark Richey Woodworking technology is leading the way -- both in the shop and in the heating system. All the fuel that feeds the half million-dollar biomass furnace comes from the shop's wood waste.

"You are burning the waste fuel, which is a combination of wood, chips, sawdust -- everything that comes off the machine -- in combination with the ground up waste product that normally would go to a Dumpster," Mark Richey said.

The sawdust and wood shavings are collected in tubes and transported through a maze of pipes to two outside silos. There it is cleaned and fed back to the furnace. All the waste is turned into fuel cost savings because there are no additional heating expenses.

"It does make sense. It feels great. I mean, we are totally off the gas grid now for our heat, and hopefully, someday we'll be off the electric grid too," said Greg Porfido, of Mark Richey Woodworking.

Richey said he's in a business that borrows from Mother Nature. He is an avid mountain climber, and said he it's important to be a steward of the forest through giving back.

"As business owners and in our personal lives, we have an obligation to do everything we can to wean ourselves off this addiction to foreign oil," Richey said.