Step 1: Pass the Solar Mobility Act

• Massachusetts Senate Bill S1993
  • Previous efforts in MA: S1970, S2302 Section 113 (Omnibus Climate Change Bill). H4714. It may take time to get adoption, 2015 hearing with Boston City Council.
• Secaucus Law 2014-23 but subsequently blocked by NJDOT which caused capital to withdraw support.
  • Secaucus is very much like the Pacific Railroad Acts:
    • 1862 created a general framework, but no one would invest when the government held a first mortgage.
    • 1864 gave the railroads capacity to sell first mortgage bond and then it was even a struggle. Bold people risked everything to build the Transcontinental Railroads.
• ​​The Solar Mobility Act combines and simplifies into a one page law the best of the laws that built the railroads, the 1934 Communications Act, and the building of the Internet based on standards (versus government plans).

The 5X5% Performance Standard as incorporated into the Solar Mobility Act:

/////////////////   BEGIN    Solar Mobility Act   ////////////////////    

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,

The executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall regulate solar-powered mobility networks to encourage the shift from an oil-powered to a sustainable economy. If no commercial enterprise is approved to build such networks within 6 months, the executive office shall conduct one or more pilot networks. Commercial and pilot networks shall be granted non-exclusive access to rights-of-way if the networks:

(i) are privately-funded construction;

(ii) are privately operated without government subsidies;

(iii) exceed 120 passenger miles per gallon (5 times the efficiency on existing roads) or equivalent energy efficiency;

(iv) exceed safety performance of transportation modes already approved for use; and

(v) that are above ground gather more than 2 megawatt-hours of renewable energy per network mile per typical day.

The executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall promulgate regulations for solar and renewable energy mobility networks based on the following criteria:

(i) system design, fabrication, installation, safety, insurance and inspection practices consistent with the American Society for Testing and Materials International Committee F24 on Amusement Rides and Devices;

(ii) environmental approvals shall be granted to networks exceeding 5 times the efficiency of existing roads as measured in energy per passenger-mile, and

(iii) networks access may be rejected in writing for other reasons; and

(iv) provided, taxes and fees assessed on solar and renewable energy mobility network providers, passengers and cargo shall be limited to 5 percent of the gross revenues and shall be paid to the aggregate rights-of-way holders by the solar or renewable energy mobility network provider.

Step 2: Why the ASTM Standard for Theme Parks

For capital and innovators to risk, the law must be clearn and well established.

Federalist #62, Madison

"What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed? What farmer or manufacturer will lay himself out for the encouragement given to any particular cultivation or establishment, when he can have no assurance that his preparatory labors and advances will not render him a victim to an inconstant government? In a word, no great improvement or laudable enterprise can go forward which requires the auspices of a steady system of national policy."

 

The ASTM standards are used in 44 of 50 States and many nations. The ASTM standards:

• Are widely used and well established.
• Are tailored to pedestrians, especially children. Cities should be designed around pedestrians, not cars. Machines should adapt to people.
• Have an existing enforcement industry.
• Have an existing insurance industry.
• Have an existing common law. This is very important because privately funded transportation networks will not have the sovereign immunity that protects DOT from poor safety performance.
• Injury-rates are radically better:
  • ​ASTM injury rates are 0.2 per million.
  • Self-regulated DOTs have a death-rate of 118 per million in the US.​

Step3: Commercializing the Internet is a Model

The digitizing of communications networks, replacing analog networks with digital networks, required decades to get the regulation correct.

• 1968:  "The Mother of All Demos" demonstrated nearly every aspect of modern computing and the Internet. A video is below. If you start at 29 minutes and watch for 5 minutes you will see graphical navigation, the mouse, video conferencing, and more.
• 1982: The Federal communications monopoly created on Aug 1,1918 by Executive Order was declared unconstitutional.
•  

The technology of the Internet existed for decades before it commercialized. The steps in that commercia

Progress is beginning made by going overseas:

• Richard Branson unveils new Dubai hyperloop venture to move freight at 760mph
• Elon Musk has made progress in Maryland.
• JPods is making progress by going to China

Network Resiliancy is the reverse of adding network connections:

This 1994 news cast illustrates how expectations at one point are entirely backward sounding today. All applications of technology to networks must keep ahead of expectation to remain relavant. Networks are dynamic processes, not static technology.