Bill James

http://www.jpods.com
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35 Comments

    • Sun Nov 2nd 08:04 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Bad News for Housing
      The only way we can resolve the housing crisis is to increase disposable income so people can service their mortgages.

      There is a great set of statistics from the Center for Housing Policy that shows for every 10% increase in public transportation, working families cut their transportation expenses by $1,000 a year. Cities with less than 5% public transportation costs are $10,300. Cities averaging 12% public transportation, costs are $9,300, etc....

      A practical way to increase transportation as a service is Personal Rapid Transit (PRT or PodCars). These networks increase urban transport efficiency to approach long-haul rail (423 ton-miles per gallon). They are efficient enough to be privately financed. Currently San Jose and Santa Cruz have requests on the market to build networks in those cities.

      seekingalpha.com/artic...
      View article »
    • Sun Oct 5th 09:00 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Global Market Roundup: Will the Bailout Work?
      End government control over rights of way, implement Performance Standards for power generation and transportation and in 6 years. seekingalpha.com/artic...

      Building the Physical-Internet will likely working family disposable income can increase by $3,200 per year. www.jpods.com/ar_Burde...
      View article »
    • Mon Sep 1st 08:56 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Solar Breaks Oil Price Dependence
      Solar stocks will jump significantly as the first solar powered transportation networks are deployed. Using distributed power collection to power transportation's distributed power needs changes payback for solar to less than 5 years.

      Examples:
      www.earthtoys.com/emag...
      www.npr.org/templates/...
      View article »
    • Sun Aug 31st 08:27 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      What Happened to Peak Oil?
      Converting urban transportation to PRT (Personal Rapid Transit), with vehicle of 200-400 mpg, will make a significant difference.
      seekingalpha.com/artic...
      View article »
    • Sat Aug 23rd 19:28 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      I.O.U.S.A.
      We can start our way out of this by changing the lifeblood of our economy from oil to ingenuity. Oil is finite. The more we depend on ingenuity, the more ingenuity we get. Here are 4 links:
      1. PRT to preempt oil in urban transport: seekingalpha.com/artic...
      2. End Urban Planning, we should have learned from the Soviets that planned economies are brittle facing changing circumstances: economiclifeboat.com/w...
      3. Plans versus Performance Standards: seekingalpha.com/artic...
      4. Wrong problem, we have a planning not an energy problem: www.earthtoys.com/emag...
      View article »
    • Sun Aug 17th 09:43 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Oil, Housing and the Dollar
      Housing will get much worse as by mid-2009 as unemployment grows unless we fundamentally deal with Peak Oil issues. World Oil Exports (amount of oil that can be purchased) peaked in 2005 at 46.4 million barrels per day. The deficit since has grown to 3 times the size of the 1973 Oil Embargo deficit.

      We are still staged for oil supply shocks, seekingalpha.com/artic...

      Re-tooling transportation is necessary seekingalpha.com/artic...
      View article »
    • Sun Aug 17th 09:05 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Oil: Demand Destruction Overdone?
      Thanks for the insight and graphics. Demand destruction equals economic destruction.
      View article »
    • Wed Aug 13th 09:13 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Financials To Resume Meltdown Momentarily
      Sorry, the link to WSJ article on the decline in World Oil Exports was clipped online.wsj.com/article...

      The data is gathered but not directly reported by EIA or IEA.
      www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/i...
      www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/i...
      View article »
    • Wed Aug 13th 08:30 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Financials To Resume Meltdown Momentarily
      Until we change the lifeblood of our economy from oil, oil will dominate the economy. Amazingly a littel recognized fact is that the amount of oil available to be purchased (World Oil Exports) peaked in 2005 at 46.342 mbpd (http:// http//online.wsj.com/a...

      Since the deficit has grown to 3 times the deficit of the 1973 Oil Embargo. The consequences is unstable oil prices. By 2010 the rate of decline will likely be 8% per year.

      If we re-tool transportation and power generation, growing efficiency, we can make the corner. If we do not, energy growth is negative and will cause economic growth to be negative. seekingalpha.com/artic...
      View article »
    • Tue Aug 12th 10:11 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Oil: Does Supply and Demand Still Apply?
      Oil production does not really matter. There will be some minor increases in production as mega-projects come on line.

      Ignore the really big whoppers of politics, hoarding and weather. These can completely disrupt current concepts of supply and demand.

      What is critical is oil available to be bought. Tally production increases, current field depletions and increasing domestic consumption in oil to get World Oil Exports or Net Oil Exports. This peaked in 2005 at 46.342 mbpd, 2006 at 45.838 mbpd, 2007 at 44.832 mbpd, 2008 at about 43.8 mbpd.

      From the peak, this creates an oil deficit 3 times larger than the deficit caused by the 1973 Oil Embargo.

      Worse, Economic Growth is equal to Energy Growth times Efficiency Growth. Energy Growth has stopped. Efficiency has not changed much. The decay in Economic Growth can be seen in foreclosures.

      On the good side, efficiency in urban transportation is at 4%. This can be increased to about 70%. seekingalpha.com/artic...
      View article »
    • Fri Jul 25th 08:49 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The T. Boone Pickens Approach
      There is a 65% savings in changing urban transport from oil-based to Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). Moving a ton to move a person is less than 4% efficient. It is practical to increase efficiency to 70% in about 4 billion of the 8 billion miles Americans drive daily. View jpods.com for an example of PRT.
      View article »
    • Sat Jul 19th 00:37 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Gas Lines Coming This Fall
      Here is a link to World Oil Exports of 20 top exporters (about 93% of all exports). www.jpods.com/JPods/01...
      and source, netoilexports.blogspot.../

      You will see that since mid-2004 we plateaued. It is very difficult to manipulate this. If it could be manipulated, then we should be even more desperate to end food distribution's dependence on oil. If you want security, plant a garden, organize your neighborhood and help re-tool transportation.
      View article »
    • Fri Jul 18th 12:36 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Gas Lines Coming This Fall
      Collectors 6-foot wide over the rails gather about 2.5 million watt-hours per mile per typical day (based on 16% efficient panels, 5 hours of effective sun per day). That is enough for 12,000 vehicle-miles of travel per mile of rail. Excess power during the day will be sold to the grid. Power at night will be purchased from the grid.

      As the networks grow, the amount of excess power (rails with fewer than 12,000 trips per day) will grow. Instead of large solar arrays in remote deserts, very large solar arrays in cities will make local grids far more durable. During peak demand, high air conditioning periods, the amount of excess power climbs.

      The need for collectors and short payback (1-4 years) will allow a lot of innovation in solar energy collection and storage. Example, I have seen a CO2 harvester that wants our excess power for their chemical process for recombining water and CO2 to natural gas and oxygen. That natural gas can then run electrical generators at night.

      There is considerable synergy in this system approach to transport and power generation. It is a transport version of a solar calculator.
      View article »
    • Wed Jul 16th 21:20 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Gas Lines Coming This Fall
      Hi Fireball
      JPods are powered by electricity. Any type of electricity will work but in general we will install collectors of natural power supplies (solar, wind, etc...). It adds about $1.5 million per mile to the cost. Total cost is about $4-12 million a mile. Typical payback on early networks is 1-4 years.

      JPods are a double paradigm shift
      - from individual devices to networks
      - with system integrate transportation and power generation.

      This makes the systems very durable in turbulent times. The will also be very profitable. Operating costs of a car are at least 56 cents per vehicle mile (AAA 2004). Operating JPods is 4 cents. Our definition of profit is the difference between the value customers willing pay for and the cost to compete. JPods provide the service of a chauffeured car at a radically reduced cost to compete.

      This profitability, increased value and lower costs, will help speed deployment.
      Here is an article about investing in the PRT industry. Anyone interested in investing in JPods is welcome to contact me. My contact information is at JPods.com. seekingalpha.com/artic...

      Morgantown was running since 1975. Here is a link: www.youtube.com/watch?...
      View article »
    • Wed Jul 16th 16:06 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Gas Lines Coming This Fall
      FeverBuster
      Thanks for the kind comment. JPods do change repetitive travel from a capital requirement (buy car, parking space, gas) to a lower cost service (horizontal-elevator, touch, go, abandon). I agree that they will co-exist with cars, bikes and other modes of transport.
      View article »
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