Edina Foundation: Big Carrot, Bigger Stick - JPods

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EdinaIt costs less to move lesswww.JPods.comGreen line is a potential route.Green bars are 1/2 and 1 mile long.Bigger Stick: Peak OilOil, the life blood of our economies is a finite resource. Wemust change our economic blood before oil peaks.Discoveries of oil peaked in 1964. Extraction of oil, by eventhe most optimistic estimates, will peak some time in thenext 26 years. When Peak Oil hits, economies desperatefor energy will radically bid up the price of oil.Oil prices have tripled in the last 6 years. After Peak Oilprices will increase radically.It takes years to re-tool infrastructure. It has taken 37 yearsto build out the Internet to the current level of access. It willtake at least 37 years of crash effort to re-tool transportationnetworks to be independent of oil.We should be racing to re-tool like our life depends on it,because it does. After Peak Oil the rate of extraction willdecline just as new discoveries have declined; forcing economicactivities to decline; forcing populations to decline.The rate of decline is estimated at 5-15% per year.Adding the history of each oil field yields a repeating historyof discovery, extraction, peak and decline.ABC's webcast on Peak Oil: http://abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20060710/We have the technology to re-tool. We need to do it whileoil is cheap. We are running out of time.Bill James612.414.4211bill.james@jpods.com
EdinaIt costs less to move lesswww.JPods.comWhy JPods: Reasons to ImplementGreen line is a potential route.Green bars are 1/2 and 1 mile long.1. It costs less to move less.Currently we use energy, pay for infrastructure and createcongestion, moving a ton to move a person.Ultra-light JPods approach moving only the person.a. Infrastructure costs are a fraction of heavy infrastructure.b. There is a profit of 27 cents per passenger mile on apotential 4 billion passenger miles per day.2. Congestion mitigation. Congestion cost every worker awork-week per year. JPods operate in a different planethan current congestion. Ultra-light nature allows capacityexpansion within the same right of way. Computer controlledadjusts to conflicts far in advance of the event.Streaming resource to need on-demand applies to peopleand cargo. Pallets can move without a truck moving.3. Movability without discrimination. Everyone in the first16 years of their lives and many the last 16 years of theirlives people lose their personal mobility when they do nothave the capacity to drive or own a car. JPods providespersonal mobility regardless of age, ability or capacity toown and operated a car.4. Visual Impact. Visual impact is both a problem and benefit.JPods will have a visual impact. JPods will havea more adaptable visual presense than highways andelevated railroads.5. Economic Opportunity. In a Vermont program 85% ofunemployed people who were subsidized with a car gotjobs and retained employment. JPods are affordable.6. Expand energy options. Moving a ton to move a personrequires high density fuel. Low density power sourceslike solar are not practical.Ultra-light JPods make low density power sources practical.Solar panels mounted on JPod rails can generate720 kw per mile, a JPod every 32 feet.7. Securitya. Personal. You do not have to share a ride withstrangers. Risks faced by subway and bus riders anddrivers are not a problem for JPod riders. JPod ridersdo not have to wait at a station reducing the risks ofbeing mugged.b. Public. JPods, unlike trains and airports are low valuedterrorist targets. JPods can be checked at theirload point and cannot be modified without detection intravel. Dispersing the congestion at airports and otherhigh value targets will aid security.c. War. When we are independent of foreign oil we willnot have to defend against oil profit funded terrorismor foreign deployment of troops.8. Rescue-Rail and disaster relief. JPods can quickly bedeployed over broke heavy infrastructure to re-establishlogistical and medical support.9. Economic durability (cheap secure oil is gone)a. Peak Oil. The era of cheap securely available oilis over. Every $10 per barrel increase depressesGDP by .5%. Oil shortages and stoppages are likely.Several airlines run on the verge of bankruptcy in partbecause of unstable fuel prices.b. We do not directly produce green house gases.Britain released a report they would take immediateaction to legislate carbon reduction targets and moveEurope toward a goal of reducing carbon emissionsby 30 percent by 2020 and 60 percent by 2050.10. Service. JPods provide the service of a chauffeured car.Areas with a high density of shuttles can substantiallyimprove service and cut costs.11. Land use. JPods require very little land and can returnto green space a lot of land currently paved. In manycases, as JPod rails are installed, bike paths and walkingareas can be added to otherwise pedestrian hostileroutes.12. Noise. JPods are very quiet.13. Cost Effective. JPods produce profits and revenuesinstead of requiring subsidies to be built and operated.14. Scaleable. JPod networks can start very small; expandedthem based on payback or niche requirements.
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Edina Foundation: Big Carrot, Bigger Stick - JPods

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