Over-regulation is doubling the cost

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

The discussion revolves heavily around the nature and implementation of regulations. Here are the three most prevalent themes:

1. Excessive and Illogical Regulatory Burden

A major theme is the frustration stemming from specific regulatory requirements perceived as overly expensive, time-consuming, or nonsensical given the product's purpose (emission reduction).

Supporting Quote: User "itsdrewmiller" anchors the discussion by citing the $27 million cost for certifying one device across 270 engine families to prove it doesn't increase emissions: "It costs $100,000 per certification and there are more than 270 engine families for the 9 engines that our initial partners use. That’s $27,000,000 for this one regulatory item."
Supporting Quote: User "ehnto" summarizes this sentiment regarding the cost structure: "In my view though the goal of the regulation isn't bad, but the cost of the process is prohibitive. Why is it so expensive to measure engine emissions?"

2. The Dual Nature and Justification of Regulation

There is a significant philosophical divide regarding whether regulations are fundamentally protective mechanisms ("written in blood") or unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles that often impede genuine good.

Supporting Quote (Pro-Regulation Rationale): User "hn_acc1" asserts the necessity born from past failures: "There's a reason for most regulations - most of them are written in blood. Now sure, you may be the one 'good corporation' out there... But if the regulations aren't super stringent, others will undercut you by skimping on safety/emissions and selling a similar product for way less."
Supporting Quote (Skepticism of Regulatory Intent/Effect): User "AnthonyMouse" argues against blanket support for regulation, pointing to incumbent capture and inefficiency: "How about whimsical rentism from incumbents who want to exclude competitors or avaricious middlemen who want their services to be expensive and mandatory, and capture the regulators to make that happen."

3. The Problem of Regulatory Specificity (Engine Families & Waivers)

Many users focused on the lack of flexibility or common sense in how regulations are applied across variants of technology, suggesting that bureaucratic rules fail to account for context.

Supporting Quote: User "darth_avocado" argues that the definition of what requires testing is too rigid: "The problem isn’t that regulations exist. The problem is that they are defined in a way that reasonable work arounds or alternative pathways do not exist for situations like this. 270 engine families for 9 engine suggests that the designs may be small variations that would not significantly change the emissions between them."
Supporting Quote: User "XorNot" points to an omission in the original complaint, suggesting the system should allow for exceptions: "That's what regulatory exemption procedures exist for, and it would be the logical next step if you had convincing hard data."

🚀 Project Ideas

Regulatory Compliance Validation Engine (RCVE)

Summary

A SaaS platform designed to assist startups and small manufacturers (like Revoy) in navigating complex, multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance testing requirements.
It maps required tests (e.g., emissions, safety) against existing testing data, engine families/variants, and regulatory exemptions to calculate the minimum required certification matrix and cost estimate, pushing back against arbitrary or redundant testing demands.
Core value proposition: Drastically reduce compliance overhead and time-to-market by automating the identification of necessary vs. superfluous regulatory tests ($27M scenario reduction).

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Hardware startups, cleantech manufacturers, SMEs facing complex product certification (EPA, CARB, state agencies).
Core Feature	Dynamic Test Matrix Minimization: Ingests regulatory documents and existing test reports (e.g., for 9 base engines) and generates the fewest remaining necessary tests required to cover all 270 variants, using recognized substitution/waiver logic (where applicable).
Tech Stack	Python (for data processing/parsing legal text, e.g., using NLP libraries like spaCy), GraphQL API, React Frontend, PostgreSQL database for storing rule sets and client project data.
Difficulty	High (Requires sophisticated document parsing and accurate modeling of regulatory statutes, which often rely on ambiguous legal text interpretation).
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

This directly addresses the core frustration: "The problem isn’t that regulations exist. The problem is that they are defined in a way that reasonable work arounds or alternative pathways do not exist for situations like this." (darth_avocado).
It provides a data-driven mechanism for "codif[ying] the threshold for what 'very similar' configurations don't need to be tested" (squigz) by formalizing the logic that regulators should be applying for exemptions.

Certification Fee Auditing and Justification Platform (CFAJP)

Summary

A transparency tool that focuses on deconstructing the high cost of mandatory testing services. It allows companies to input a bill (e.g., $100k per certification) and upload related documentation (if available) to benchmark costs against industry averages or historical data for similar lab work.
It facilitates the generation of formal, evidence-based challenges against specific fee structures, targeting the "theater" aspect of compliance costs.
Core value proposition: Turning subjective outrage over arbitrary fees (like the $5k paperwork charge mentioned by Workaccount2) into actionable, auditable objections.

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Compliance officers, legal teams, and founders dealing with high-cost third-party certification bodies (UL, state agencies).
Core Feature	Cost Comparison Benchmarking: Users input fee breakdowns. The system cross-references known service providers, industry historical rates, and regulatory requirements to flag costs that appear disproportionate to labor/overhead ("total fucking racket" sentiment).
Tech Stack	Go (for performance/API stability), Time-series Database (e.g., InfluxDB for historical cost tracking), Web interface using Vue.js.
Difficulty	Medium (Requires gathering and structuring proprietary or hard-to-access benchmark data, but the core calculation logic is less complex than regulatory parsing).
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Directly caters to the sentiment: "Yeah why does the certification process cost so much is one question I have." (ehnto) and "It's a total fucking racket." (Workaccount2).
It addresses the confusion around cost drivers: "Would this be a conversation if the cost of the test were more reasonable?" (ehnto). This product attempts to define what "reasonable" means based on data.

Regulatory Context Preservation Service (RCPS)

Summary

A version control system specifically for interacting with regulatory bodies. It tracks every communication, submission, justification, and counter-argument related to a specific product certification or permit application over time.
If a regulator requests a new test or denies an exemption, the system logs the reason cited against the established context, allowing future administrators or legal teams to easily trace if the current requirement deviates from prior precedent or stated goals (like EPA goals).
Core value proposition: Fighting regulatory "creep" and bureaucratic capture by preserving the historical technical justification for specific rules, ensuring accountability across changing personnel ("state and federal bureaucrats do not lose jobs" - bpodgursky).

Details

Key	Value
Target Audience	Companies operating in highly regulated long-lifecycle markets (e.g., automotive, heavy machinery, energy) and regulatory analysts wanting historical context.
Core Feature	Contextual Change Logging: Timestamped repository for all regulatory correspondence. Key feature is linking new mandates back to the original statutory justification, flagging where a new requirement does not appear to map to the original safety/emissions goal.
Tech Stack	Git/GitHub-style architecture (built on top of a standard code repository structure), Elixir/Phoenix (for immutable and verifiable data logging), Solid security model utilizing established version control practices.
Difficulty	Medium (The challenge is adoption, as internalizing the process requires strict discipline, but the technical implementation is feasible).
Monetization	Hobby

Notes

Addresses the concern that rules change arbitrarily or serve incumbent interests: "The Regulator owes you a justification." (protocolture).
It operationalizes the idea of demanding justification: If a regulator demands a new test for an electric device, the RCPS query would highlight that this deviates from the original statute written for internal combustion engines, making it harder for low-effort decisions to pass unnoticed.