Bill James

How to Invest in Peak Oil

Peak World Oil Exports was in 2005, the amount of oil-energy available to fuel the economies. Net World Oil Exports has declined about 6% since 2005 = the economies have contracted about 6%.

There will be great oil and natural gas investments, but the long-term investments will be in achieving the current economic work using much less power. Example, investing in Personal Rapid Transit (PRT); a paradigm shift in transportation from the highways/automobile to networks of computer controlled 'horizontal-elevators' . seekingalpha.com/artic...

Using 127 watt-hours per passenger-mile instead of 1,000 (900, trains; 1033, cars; 1246, buses) results in 85% of current transportation costs to be converted to jobs and profits. This massive opportunity exists only because communications, transportation and power generation infrastructures have operated under well-meaning to rigid government monopolies since AT&T was monopolized in the mobilization to fight World War I. The great innovations at the founding of these monopolies locked in place the innovations of Bell, Ford, Edison and the Wright Brothers.

De-monopolization of AT&T in 1984 resulted in the Internet boom. Cap & Trade will force a de-monopolization of government road (network) allowing innovations such as PRT and Feed-in Tariffs to re-tool transportation and power generation infrastructure. The boom will exceed that of the Internet.

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.

California's Fuel-Efficiency Battle and Peak Oil

CSX, the railroad, currently runs a TV commercial showing a Prius being loaded onto a rail car and states they can "move a ton 423 miles on a gallon of fuel."

The use of ultra-light rails, automated guideways, was identified by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment in 1975 as a permantent solution to the 1973 Oil Embargo. Morgantown's Personal Rapid Transit was built and has delivered 110 million oil-free, injury-free passenger miles.

JPods version of provides on demand transport at about 183 miles per gallon. Except that they use no gallon. Solar collectors 6-foot wide, mounted over the rails gather 2.5 million watt-hours in a typical day. Enough to power 12,500 vehicle-miles.

Instead of building vast solar arrays in the remote desert, build them over the ultra-light rails that transport people and cargo with the convenience of a chauffeured car and the operating costs of an elevator.

Please visit jpods.com to see details.