JPods Kitty Hawk Networks

Leadership for the Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Mobility

Mall of America

Kunming, China

De Anza College, Cupertino, CA

Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL

JPods Alliance

Sentosa Crane Dance, SingaporeWith each “bird” weighing in excess of 150,000 lbs, a significant challenge was to produce graceful yet accurate and safe movements. McLaren worked with the owners, designers and prospective fabricators to develop structural and mechanical approaches that could satisfy the project budget, uphold the designer’s vision, allow shops to easily fabricate the structures, and withstand a highly unfavorable environment – an exposed saltwater marine environment within a major shipping lane is hardly ideal for precision servo-controlled me-chanics or complex electronics – while delivering a reliable showcase event.

Battery Park Theme Park RideMcLaren provided complete structural, mechanical, and electrical engineering for the ride system while also providing the site/civil work for the building. The firm produced comprehensive 3D models of the ride and coordinated space, geometry and functional issues with the various disciplines to ensure an integrated design. McLaren also performed motion and velocity studies to en-sure the ride was both exciting and interesting, while still technically feasible. Finally, McLaren produced complete bid documents for the ride, including both comprehensive design drawings and a technical performance specification. We also advised on and assisted in the pre-qualification of interested vendors.

Tina TurnerMcLaren provided structural and mechanical analysis and design, dynamic analysis, details and periodic inspection for the Tour Stage. The design in-cluded custom staging and a signature boom lift. The lift consisted of a 54 foot long long-arm that rose out of the stage, pivoted over the audience, and trans-lated across the stage with Tina Turner performing at the cantilevered end.

Rolling Stones TourThe audience balconies were accessed by two large stair towers located in the rear of the stage structure. An ADA lift also traveled with the stage to ensure that these premier viewing locations were accessible to everyone. McLaren engineers reviewed and confirmed the safety and code compliance of each of these unique features. McLaren engineers continued to assist the Rolling Stones throughout the touring process by working with local permitting agen-cies to explain analysis and safety features and to provide support regarding protection of venue grounds and features. Additionally, McLaren engineers provided on-site inspection and consultation during the state erection process for many of the venues.

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) is a nationally known engineering firm. They pro-vided the following statement of the Mall of America JPods Project.

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) is currently providing some consulting assistance to JPods and the development of its Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) products and networks. PB is also exploring potentially participating in some of JPod’s proj-ects that coincide with its engineering and business objectives. As a consult-ing firm that supports sustainable infrastructure solutions, PB welcomes the opportunity to work with other organizations in advancing sustainable develop-ment practice.

JPods Engineering Allies

Parsons Brinckerhoff

McLaren Engineering McLaren Engineering combines structural engineering capacities with experi-ence in moving large stages that operate in close proximity to large numbers of people.

JPods AllianceU2 Concert TourLikely the largest portable stage requiring 50 trucks to transport.

McLaren performed a structural and mechanical engineering evaluation of the stage equipment for the Tour. This review included performing calculations on the customized main stage decks, the B-stage decks, and several mechanical lifts. In addition, McLaren was engaged to perform a third party review of the complex and spectacular “Claw” Structure – an 85-foot tall structure that over-arches the entire stage on four radial legs – as well as its associated overhead rigging, which had been previously certified for use in Europe.

Cirque du Soleil - KA StageMcLaren provided structural and mechanical design services for the Tatami Deck and the Gantry Crane and its Sand/Cliff Deck, as well as construc-tion and installation oversight and project coordination for the Gantry Crane assembly. The Gantry Crane supports a payload of approximately 300,000 pounds. The entire Crane travels 70’ vertical from the pit to high above the audience level. The Tatami Deck presents its 30’x30’ performance platform by traveling 48’-6” from its stored position to its play position using a two-stage mechanism similar to a drawer slide.

N-Sync No Strings Tour StageMcLaren designed the unit to rise up from the stage level on a scissor lift, rotate, and travel on a chassis into the aisles, adjacent to the audience seating areas. McLaren also provided structural analysis, and periodic on-site obser-vations of the mobile platform system, and assessed the stationary stage and “ribbon” style performer lifts.

Blue Arc Engineering Blue Arc Engineering specializes in material handling systems. The mate-rial handling systems in many factory environments is more sever than the speeds, loads and precision required in moving vehicles.

JPods Alliance

Dynamic Power Technologies, LLC Dynamic Power Technologies has prepared finite element evaluations on rails and suspension systems.

Club Car Ingarsall Rand’s Club Car division will make JPods vehicles and provide Neighborhood Vehicle options. The more transportation options, the more niches that can be optimized, the more efficiencies can be tailored to use.

JPods Alliance

JITCorp Business systems, parts documentation. Twin City Business Monthly identi-fied WebClerk as the Best New High Tech Product of the Year in 1998.

Page

Pre

ss - Best N

ew

Tech

Pro

duct o

f the Ye

ar

JPods: Jobs from Solving Peak Oil

www.jpods.com

Leadership for the Paradigm Shift to Sustainable Mobility

Job recovery is prevented by Peak Oil but is pos-sible if:

Transport is re-tooled so efficiencies approach-es that of long haul freight rail, 400 ton-miles per gallon.

Power generation is re-tooled so net energy exceeds 25:1 (energy produced to energy required to get the energy)

Disposable income per family can be increased by $5,000 per year if power and transport infrastruc-tures are de-monopolized similar to how com-munications infrastructure was de-monopolized in 1984. Innovation is needed. Neither politicians nor bureaucrats file patents, yet they are designing and controlling innovation, or more correctly, the lack of it.

Decay of Economic Momentum:Between 2002 and 2006 working class families in the US lost $2,000 of disposable income as the cost of energy increased:

Loss of Disposable IncomeWithout disposable income, consumers cannot

consume. Without disposable income, more and more

families fail to maintain their mortgages; housing values and the banking system col-lapsed.

Without disposable income, there are fewer and fewer customers forcing businesses to ratchet down employment.

If 1929 and 2008 are similar shocks, unemploy-ment will continue to spiral downward:

Peak Oil is the CauseThe economic paradigm of GDP growth based on Oil Production Growth is broken.

GDP Growth and jobs growth will never again come from oil supply growth.

In 2005 oil was $45 a barrel and world production was at 74 million barrels a day. By 2008 oil was at $145 a barrel and production remained at 74 million barrels a day. Oil suppliers did not increase

JPods: Jobs from Solving Peak Oil

www.jpods.com

production to take advantage of increased price because they could not, the world reached Peak Oil, the maximum rate that oil can be extracted.World Crude Production

There still plenty of oil but the rate it can be extract-ed and new fields developed have fallen below the rate existing fields are depleting. Peak Oil is not about the amount of oil but the size of the spigot. The size of the spigot is shrinking.

Depleting oil affects both the size of the spigot and the debt required to power an economy.

Re-tooling Power GenerationNet energy is also declining. Jobs depend on a net energy of 25:1. Chris Martensen does a great job explaining net energy, these Energy Cliff graphs are from his presentation:

Oil Energy CliffThis quality of output versus input will add to the crisis of oil supply and price. In the following graph the Blue area identifies the total amount of oil avail-able but the Gray area indicates the net oil energy available to power the economy.

Both solar and wind have Net Energies sufficient to create a jobs recovery. If biofuels can be improved to provide even 20:1 return on energy invested, they can be a major aid in transitioning to sustain-able infrastructure. But at their current 1.1:1 or even 3:1 ratio, they just add to food prices.

Energy Cliff, RenewablesRe-tooling TransportationMost of us have ridden in an airplane, few of us purchased an airplane. We enjoyed the service without a capital penalty at a low cost to use. The same is true for ground transport in New York City where families have an extra $2,500 of disposable

JPods: Jobs from Solving Peak Oil

www.jpods.com

income because transportation is available as a service. It is practical to deploy Personal Rapid Transit (PRT or PodCars) in most cities and towns. It is practical to achieve twice the density of NYC or 70% access, resulting in an extra $5,000 per year per family of disposable income.

PRT is the solution to the 1973 Oil Embargo identi-fied by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, study PB-244854. The PRT network built at Morgantown, WV has delivered 110 million injury-free passenger miles. With capital costs of $4-12 million per mile and energy required to oper-ate a 85% less than cars/trains/buses, modern ver-sions of PRT are being deployed around the world:

59 Swedish Cities have commited to deploying PRT networks.

POSCO has committed to building PRT in Korea.

ULTra System is being deployed at Heathrow.Masdar, Abu Dhabi, is a zero-carbon city that

will have PRT.JPods, Inc. has come to agreements to deploy

networks in China, Huntvillle, Cupertino and other US cities.

JPods version of PRT operate at about 260 mpg and uses the distributed nature of the networks to harvest distributed energy sources. Ten times transport efficiency gains are reinforced by 25:1 power collection. JPods Networks combine energy collection with high efficiency transport.

To understand the nature of this paradigm shift five

books are recommended:

The Black Swan, uncertainty and rare events.Nothing Like It in the World, how the trans-

continental railroads were built.The Tipping Point, how things cascade.Outliers, who makes things cascade.The Wisdom of Crowds, why free markets

and democracies work.