Building Blocks Roger Babb receives 'Spirit of Georgia' Award for recycling process By Neil McGahee
R
oger Babb didn't make the mythical phoenix arise from the ashes, but he has given the ashes a new life. Babb, EE 68, brought a process from Europe to the United States that recycles fly ash into building blocks. He founded Babb International and invested almost $12 million establishing a plant and company headquarters in Ringgold, Ga. For constructing the process that turns fly ash into building blocks, Babb was given the "Spirit of Georgia" award by Secretary of State Cathy Cox. The Georgia Economic Developers Association annually honors a Georgia business person who has "demonstrated superior courage and ability" in turning ideas into successful enterprises. "When coal is burned, electrostatic precipitators in the smokestacks capture the fine ash given off," Babb says. "In the past, this by-product has been buried in landfills, but now we use it. Autoclaved aerated concrete, or AAC, is a structural-masonry building block made up of 70 percent fly ash. It looks like a solid concrete block, but it's actually hollow." The block is a honeycomb of tiny bubbles that looks like Styrofoam. With an R insulation value of 1.26 per inch, this structure allows values of R20 to R30 as opposed to an R8 value of traditional concrete block. In addition, AAC exceeds the properties of traditional building materials in fire resistance and sound absorption. AAC is also environmentally friendly, which encourages reclamation of some of the 43 million tons of fly ash disposed of annually. After graduating from Tech, Babb worked as an electrical engineer with
the Tennessee Valley Authority, but left in 1983 to help run the family business, Babb Lumber Co., with his brother, Steve, CE 70, and other family members. He continued working as a consultant with the TVA and other power companies, and through that association, he learned of fly ash technology in Europe and decided to bring it to Georgia. He and his wife, Sandra, have three grown children. Their youngest, Jeannie, has joined the business, while Jonathan, EE 91, now teaches computer architecture at Princeton, and Jiliana, who also attended Tech, graduated from Amherst. While importing the technology to create blocks from ash, Babb has also been busy with another project: www.StartMyHome.com, which he hopes will be a boon to the building industry. "On this Web site, contractors and home buyers have free access to a number of Web applications where they can estimate cost and track their construction project," Babb says. "They can identify products and vendors located in their area, view thousands of house plans, participate in forums and calculate everything from mortgage payments to the amount of lumber needed to complete a project." Babb hopes to expand both projects during the coming years. He recently cemented a joint venture with H & H Holdings, a Danish company that produces AAC for European markets. They plan to build 10 more plants throughout the Southeast and Midwest. The first will be built at the Bull Run Fossil Plant, a TVA power station near Clinton, Tenn. This plant will have the capacity to recycle more than 130,000 tons of the 150,000 tons of fly ash produced annually.
Fall 2000 • GEORGIA TECH
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