[Applause]
good afternoon and thank you for having
me here today it is my great pleasure to
be joining you to talk about something
very near and dear to my heart my dad
his legacy mission zero and the Ray so
my father Ray Anderson was the greenest
industrialist of the century debt was
born and raised right here in West Point
Georgia he lived on Avenue C just a few
blocks away from here he really came
from very humble beginnings his dad was
an assistant postmaster and his mom was
a retired schoolteacher he did excel in
football during his high school years in
West Point he knew the only way he would
ever get to go to college was on a
scholarship for football and he really
wanted to go to Georgia Tech he did get
a scholarship but unfortunately blew his
shoulder out the first year but coach
Bobby Dodd really believed in Ray and
kept him as the waterboy until he
graduated in industrial engineering in
1956 with the highest honors he started
his career in Procter & Gamble and later
worked for Callaway Mills & Milliken in
1973 he took his life savings and
started a carpet tile company called
interface in LaGrange Georgia well this
was a whole new way of making carpet
because these were carpet squares he was
a bold risk-taker and he grew a small
business into a billion dollar company
in a hundred and ten countries and on
four continents and in 1994 he had an
epiphany that really changed his whole
life he realized he was making a fortune
off of a take make waste system in
business so he made interface to be the
model to become the most sustainable and
restore
so he achieved these goals through a
visualization he called Mount
sustainability and to climb to the top
to be zero-carbon by the year 2020 in
the seven phases were to eliminate waste
better emissions do no harm to the
biosphere use renewable energy such as
the Sun wind and hydrogen close the loop
on material flow such as petroleum
improve transportation and create a
culture shift that redesigns commerce
itself so interface started as a very
dirty manufacturing company and for them
to achieve mission zero drastic steps
were needed my father understood that
his company had to zero out on waste and
polluting emissions and embrace the
closed-loop recycling and new energy
sources he also understood that one
company alone couldn’t save the planet
that’s where changing attitudes and
spreading the word came into play
suppliers and companies that worked with
interface had to embrace these
principles of sustainable business
competitors had to come along too my
father gave over a hundred and sixty
speeches around the world until his
death in 2011 and that’s every year he
did this he was spreading the gospel in
doing well by doing good so after my dad
passed away I wanted to do something to
honor him and I worked with the governor
to name a stretch of highway on i-85 in
West Georgia my dad’s hometown as the
RACI Anderson Memorial Highway and then
I had the oh gosh moment what have I
done I just put the greenest
industrialists name on a dirty Highway
and that’s just totally unacceptable
[Music]
so what do I do I worked with Georgia
Conservancy and they helped connect us
with Georgia Tech College of
Architecture to develop a blueprint to
what a sustainable highway would look
like nine grad students spent a whole
year working on this project and they
used dad’s mount sustainability as the
basis the findings set the basis for our
journey next we added in novia
technology these were 45 brilliant PhDs
from Cambridge England and they studied
text report and they developed a plan of
action and a timeline for emerging
technologies from around the world a
rural interstate Road redesigned by
architects and English PhDs in lieu of a
civil engineering group it became quite
interesting today we call that stretch
of highway this 18 miles the Ray and
it’s a proving ground in the Living Lab
for transportation technology and it’s
changing the world what Georgia d-o-t is
our main partner we’ve done some
extraordinary pilot projects that are
creating a highway that’s drastically
different from what we’re used to this
highway isn’t just any highway it’s
mission zero highway that’s zero carbon
zero waste and zero deaths so how are we
going to get there an obvious first step
is addressing all that pollution that
we’re so so used to seeing and breathing
on our highways that’s why the first
technology we demonstrated on our Living
Lab was so obvious a quick charging
solar-powered electric vehicle charger
we call that a PV for evey our PV for
evey provides clean energy for clean
cars and it moves us closer to our zero
carbon goal not only that but this one
station closed a critical gap for evey
charging
opened up an entire interstate for evey
travelers we’re also a part of adopt the
highway in this program is a litter
pickup program and we believe that
litter has no place on our Highway or
any highway so we’re going to talk about
a little bit of resource efficiency what
is it well it means using what we have
to do more our highways are surrounded
by acres and acres of land call the
right away we have over 250 acres just
on our 18 miles now of course we need a
safe place for drivers to stop in an
emergency but can this safe place
multitask the answer is yes we can
create economic opportunity and we can
generate new revenue for do T’s just by
using some of that space for renewable
energy generation this fall on the REA
we’re beginning construction on a 1
megawatt solar farm on the highway
shoulder through a partnership with
Georgia do T Georgia power and our
Energy Commission if you get a chance
check out exit 14 and you’ll see 2600
solar panels on the right away shoulder
we’re really excited about this but what
if the solar panels weren’t just next to
the highway but on the highway on the
REA it’s not a hypothetical question but
a reality
we found Huawei in France which glues on
to the existing Road kind of like a Lee
press-on nail it’s heavy duty its skid
resistant it lasts as long as new
asphalt and you don’t have to tear the
road up to install it our 50 square
meter pilot project is what way on the
REA and it’s the first in the world
outside of France and everyone needs to
come see it because it’s real the future
is here and our solar Road generates
over 8 megawatt hours in 12 months we
use this
power that’s generated and we feed it
into our Welcome Center to help with
energy cost now I’ve always had this
thought think about the right away and
think about all that wind and I’ve
always thought that wind energy on the
right away makes the perfect sense all
those big trucks making big wind while
you won’t see it on the rate we have
found new vertical wind turbines that
function with low mile per hour winds
like three miles per hour which is
perfect for the REA but it’s also
perfect for the majority of our highways
in the nation and it won’t be long
before you see a wind demonstration on
the REA showing more ways we can better
use land and assets we already have to
yo technology is amazing
but sometimes Mother Nature has already
given us exactly what we need at the
rave we call this our nature tech one
great example is bio swells these native
grasses grow up tall to slow down storm
water flooding off of the highway and to
trap and filter pollution before it gets
into the watershed with Georgia d-o-t
we’ve planted acres of bio swells on the
Ray and we’ve also planted miles of
pollinator meadows and remember that
solar farm we’re building on the highway
with Georgia Power well we’ll be using
native pollinators as ground cover for
the entire megawatt of solar these
little decisions do make a difference
especially to our utilities the farmers
and our dinner plate did you know that 3
out of 5 bites of your food come from
pollinators
that’s your fruits and your nuts and
your vegetables and they all depend on
pollinators
now speaking on dinner let’s be honest
we’re not going to eat food grown on the
side of the highway right it’s pretty
dirty but what about using that wasted
land to grow other things like
sustainable fiber we can
grow perennial wheat on acres and acres
of right away this super fiber is used
to make disposable diapers napkins and
toilet paper
it also sequester’s tons of carbon in
its ten foot or longer root systems with
the land institute we have planted the
Ray this year with perennial wheat to
test its viability in the south so
saving lives on the road is our top
priority at the ray zero death is the
most important part of mission zero last
year we lost over 40 thousand Americans
that died on our highways now smart cars
will help with distracted driving but
some accidents are caused by tire
failure and those are totally
predictable and preventable
that’s why we’ll right is so important
our Tire safety station on the race the
only one available to the public right
now in the entire world
it’s a drive-through it only takes seven
seconds you never have to leave your car
and it measures your tread tire and
pressure on all your tires and it even
works on school buses worn and under
inflated tires make your Kart dangerous
and less fuel efficient in the US every
year over two billion gallons of gas are
wasted because of under inflated tires
now technology like this that makes
driving safer and cleaner and more
efficient this is what my dad would say
it’s so right and so smart and just to
tell you a little of what’s to come the
Ray has invented a new technology that
we’re calling this smart road dot the
smart road dot will replace the existing
dumb road reflectors and will convey
critical real-time real place
information to all drivers
using color whether it’s black ice or an
accident two miles ahead the road dot
will insure you that you don’t have to
own a Tesla to have the up-to-date
information that could save your life so
we’re working to put what we call a
smartphone into each dot that
communicates to each other to cars and
to the cloud like my dad we know that we
can’t keep what we’re doing to ourselves
and expect to make much of a difference
at the REA we’ve connected with thought
leaders and experts in energy and
transportation and environmental sectors
to share what we’re doing and learn from
them each month we host groups from
around the world to our Georgia
information Visitor Center in West Point
and you can see from the pictures that
the first thing almost everyone does is
touch the walkway next time you’re in
the area we invite you to come by and
so hosting groups is great but we can’t
wait on the world to come to us we’re
coming to the world we talk with
decision-makers in Georgia and the US
capitols and we reach out and do
interviews like BBC USA Today in The
Weather Channel and we speak at events
like today’s TEDx well I sincerely hope
that today I might have helped to change
your attitude or taught you something
you didn’t know and I hope you’ll share
the ray with someone you know when you
leave today the Rae is not just a place
but a movement quoting my father status
quo is a powerful opiate we’re used to
what we know but now you know what’s
possible how much more can we achieve on
a simple stretch of road we can create
economic opportunities save lives
generate energy protect our
and create a safer more beautiful
highway for drivers my dad used to say
we have a choice to make during our
brief brief visit to this beautiful
living blue and green planet to help it
or hurt it it is your call so will you
settle for status quo or will you demand
more thank you [Applause]
good afternoon and thank you for having
me here today it is my great pleasure to
be joining you to talk about something
very near and dear to my heart my dad
his legacy mission zero and the Ray so
my father Ray Anderson was the greenest
industrialist of the century debt was
born and raised right here in West Point
Georgia he lived on Avenue C just a few
blocks away from here he really came
from very humble beginnings his dad was
an assistant postmaster and his mom was
a retired schoolteacher he did excel in
football during his high school years in
West Point he knew the only way he would
ever get to go to college was on a
scholarship for football and he really
wanted to go to Georgia Tech he did get
a scholarship but unfortunately blew his
shoulder out the first year but coach
Bobby Dodd really believed in Ray and
kept him as the waterboy until he
graduated in industrial engineering in
1956 with the highest honors he started
his career in Procter & Gamble and later
worked for Callaway Mills & Milliken in
1973 he took his life savings and
started a carpet tile company called
interface in LaGrange Georgia well this
was a whole new way of making carpet
because these were carpet squares he was
a bold risk-taker and he grew a small
business into a billion dollar company
in a hundred and ten countries and on
four continents and in 1994 he had an
epiphany that really changed his whole
life he realized he was making a fortune
off of a take make waste system in
business so he made interface to be the
model to become the most sustainable and
restore
so he achieved these goals through a
visualization he called Mount
sustainability and to climb to the top
to be zero-carbon by the year 2020 in
the seven phases were to eliminate waste
better emissions do no harm to the
biosphere use renewable energy such as
the Sun wind and hydrogen close the loop
on material flow such as petroleum
improve transportation and create a
culture shift that redesigns commerce
itself so interface started as a very
dirty manufacturing company and for them
to achieve mission zero drastic steps
were needed my father understood that
his company had to zero out on waste and
polluting emissions and embrace the
closed-loop recycling and new energy
sources he also understood that one
company alone couldn’t save the planet
that’s where changing attitudes and
spreading the word came into play
suppliers and companies that worked with
interface had to embrace these
principles of sustainable business
competitors had to come along too my
father gave over a hundred and sixty
speeches around the world until his
death in 2011 and that’s every year he
did this he was spreading the gospel in
doing well by doing good so after my dad
passed away I wanted to do something to
honor him and I worked with the governor
to name a stretch of highway on i-85 in
West Georgia my dad’s hometown as the
RACI Anderson Memorial Highway and then
I had the oh gosh moment what have I
done I just put the greenest
industrialists name on a dirty Highway
and that’s just totally unacceptable
[Music]
so what do I do I worked with Georgia
Conservancy and they helped connect us
with Georgia Tech College of
Architecture to develop a blueprint to
what a sustainable highway would look
like nine grad students spent a whole
year working on this project and they
used dad’s mount sustainability as the
basis the findings set the basis for our
journey next we added in novia
technology these were 45 brilliant PhDs
from Cambridge England and they studied
text report and they developed a plan of
action and a timeline for emerging
technologies from around the world a
rural interstate Road redesigned by
architects and English PhDs in lieu of a
civil engineering group it became quite
interesting today we call that stretch
of highway this 18 miles the Ray and
it’s a proving ground in the Living Lab
for transportation technology and it’s
changing the world what Georgia d-o-t is
our main partner we’ve done some
extraordinary pilot projects that are
creating a highway that’s drastically
different from what we’re used to this
highway isn’t just any highway it’s
mission zero highway that’s zero carbon
zero waste and zero deaths so how are we
going to get there an obvious first step
is addressing all that pollution that
we’re so so used to seeing and breathing
on our highways that’s why the first
technology we demonstrated on our Living
Lab was so obvious a quick charging
solar-powered electric vehicle charger
we call that a PV for evey our PV for
evey provides clean energy for clean
cars and it moves us closer to our zero
carbon goal not only that but this one
station closed a critical gap for evey
charging
opened up an entire interstate for evey
travelers we’re also a part of adopt the
highway in this program is a litter
pickup program and we believe that
litter has no place on our Highway or
any highway so we’re going to talk about
a little bit of resource efficiency what
is it well it means using what we have
to do more our highways are surrounded
by acres and acres of land call the
right away we have over 250 acres just
on our 18 miles now of course we need a
safe place for drivers to stop in an
emergency but can this safe place
multitask the answer is yes we can
create economic opportunity and we can
generate new revenue for do T’s just by
using some of that space for renewable
energy generation this fall on the REA
we’re beginning construction on a 1
megawatt solar farm on the highway
shoulder through a partnership with
Georgia do T Georgia power and our
Energy Commission if you get a chance
check out exit 14 and you’ll see 2600
solar panels on the right away shoulder
we’re really excited about this but what
if the solar panels weren’t just next to
the highway but on the highway on the
REA it’s not a hypothetical question but
a reality
we found Huawei in France which glues on
to the existing Road kind of like a Lee
press-on nail it’s heavy duty its skid
resistant it lasts as long as new
asphalt and you don’t have to tear the
road up to install it our 50 square
meter pilot project is what way on the
REA and it’s the first in the world
outside of France and everyone needs to
come see it because it’s real the future
is here and our solar Road generates
over 8 megawatt hours in 12 months we
use this
power that’s generated and we feed it
into our Welcome Center to help with
energy cost now I’ve always had this
thought think about the right away and
think about all that wind and I’ve
always thought that wind energy on the
right away makes the perfect sense all
those big trucks making big wind while
you won’t see it on the rate we have
found new vertical wind turbines that
function with low mile per hour winds
like three miles per hour which is
perfect for the REA but it’s also
perfect for the majority of our highways
in the nation and it won’t be long
before you see a wind demonstration on
the REA showing more ways we can better
use land and assets we already have to
yo technology is amazing
but sometimes Mother Nature has already
given us exactly what we need at the
rave we call this our nature tech one
great example is bio swells these native
grasses grow up tall to slow down storm
water flooding off of the highway and to
trap and filter pollution before it gets
into the watershed with Georgia d-o-t
we’ve planted acres of bio swells on the
Ray and we’ve also planted miles of
pollinator meadows and remember that
solar farm we’re building on the highway
with Georgia Power well we’ll be using
native pollinators as ground cover for
the entire megawatt of solar these
little decisions do make a difference
especially to our utilities the farmers
and our dinner plate did you know that 3
out of 5 bites of your food come from
pollinators
that’s your fruits and your nuts and
your vegetables and they all depend on
pollinators
now speaking on dinner let’s be honest
we’re not going to eat food grown on the
side of the highway right it’s pretty
dirty but what about using that wasted
land to grow other things like
sustainable fiber we can
grow perennial wheat on acres and acres
of right away this super fiber is used
to make disposable diapers napkins and
toilet paper
it also sequester’s tons of carbon in
its ten foot or longer root systems with
the land institute we have planted the
Ray this year with perennial wheat to
test its viability in the south so
saving lives on the road is our top
priority at the ray zero death is the
most important part of mission zero last
year we lost over 40 thousand Americans
that died on our highways now smart cars
will help with distracted driving but
some accidents are caused by tire
failure and those are totally
predictable and preventable
that’s why we’ll right is so important
our Tire safety station on the race the
only one available to the public right
now in the entire world
it’s a drive-through it only takes seven
seconds you never have to leave your car
and it measures your tread tire and
pressure on all your tires and it even
works on school buses worn and under
inflated tires make your Kart dangerous
and less fuel efficient in the US every
year over two billion gallons of gas are
wasted because of under inflated tires
now technology like this that makes
driving safer and cleaner and more
efficient this is what my dad would say
it’s so right and so smart and just to
tell you a little of what’s to come the
Ray has invented a new technology that
we’re calling this smart road dot the
smart road dot will replace the existing
dumb road reflectors and will convey
critical real-time real place
information to all drivers
using color whether it’s black ice or an
accident two miles ahead the road dot
will insure you that you don’t have to
own a Tesla to have the up-to-date
information that could save your life so
we’re working to put what we call a
smartphone into each dot that
communicates to each other to cars and
to the cloud like my dad we know that we
can’t keep what we’re doing to ourselves
and expect to make much of a difference
at the REA we’ve connected with thought
leaders and experts in energy and
transportation and environmental sectors
to share what we’re doing and learn from
them each month we host groups from
around the world to our Georgia
information Visitor Center in West Point
and you can see from the pictures that
the first thing almost everyone does is
touch the walkway next time you’re in
the area we invite you to come by and
so hosting groups is great but we can’t
wait on the world to come to us we’re
coming to the world we talk with
decision-makers in Georgia and the US
capitols and we reach out and do
interviews like BBC USA Today in The
Weather Channel and we speak at events
like today’s TEDx well I sincerely hope
that today I might have helped to change
your attitude or taught you something
you didn’t know and I hope you’ll share
the ray with someone you know when you
leave today the Rae is not just a place
but a movement quoting my father status
quo is a powerful opiate we’re used to
what we know but now you know what’s
possible how much more can we achieve on
a simple stretch of road we can create
economic opportunities save lives
generate energy protect our
and create a safer more beautiful
highway for drivers my dad used to say
we have a choice to make during our
brief brief visit to this beautiful
living blue and green planet to help it
or hurt it it is your call so will you
settle for status quo or will you demand
more thank you [Applause]
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