There's a controversy cropping up over the new smart meters in cities all across America
A concerned reader asked us the following question:
Just curious if ya'll have a "smart meter" installed on your house yet? We do here in Claremont and Im worried about it. And if you do what precautionary measures are you doing to block any possible radiation from those meters? Would love to see a post about it. You guys and gals would really help the movement to get rid of these smart meters.
Edison says they emit signals at least once a minute, while videos all over Youtube shows these meter sending signals several times per minute.
In fact, a " ...growing numbers of activists who are protesting against Smart Meters ... They contend that the radio frequency (RF) Smart Meters emit is harmful to human health. People living with the meters are claiming mild to severe symptoms that are all over the board: Concentration and memory problems, dizziness, tinnitus, heart palpitations, headaches, sleep disruptions, nausea, anxiety and behavioral problems in children." - via Smart Meter Radiation Risk
Our response:
We are not too thrilled at the prospect of smart meters but from what I can tell we (thankfully) got a AMR (aka "Automatic Meter Reading") meter so the city still has to send someone out and "Walk By" to take a reading
But the installation of smart meters may well be on their way in your area. However, many adverse side affects are being reported, such as ringing in the ears, headaches and even cancer. See: Living Nightmare How Smart Meters Led to Health Problems
Here is a list of counties in CA that have made smart meters illegal.
For an in depth look at smart meters and what you can do about it see Stop Smart Meters
We all need to educate ourselves and make sure we know what the dangers are and what our options can be.
What are your concerns, if any, over Smart Meters?
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11 Comments: "SMART METERS REALLY SMART?" »
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That is awesome you posted a link to the cities, towns and counties in California bannign the use of smart meters!
The smart meters have been installed for months in our area, but not turned on. A PG & E worker admitted they may never be turned on. There are too many hills in this area for the signal to work well. The plan had been to put transmitters on street lights in hilly areas, but our rural area does not have street lights, and putting up poles everywhere in rural hilly areas may not be practical.
I have to say, I have some serious doubts about this. I certainly understand the privacy concerns, but most meters are in an area where any member of the public could just walk up and read it. But what if someone were to intercept your data. What could they do with it? From an environmental standpoint, these would seem to be a better solution. No longer does someone have to DRIVE from house to house, manually reading the meters.
We're surrounded by RF signals every day. Cell phones, cordless phones, wi-fi and cell phone towers that are placed every 1/4 of a mile or so in the cities. I'm not claiming that RF doesn't effect some people negativity but to say this technology is somehow more dangerous than the technology we've all been surrounded with for decades seems more than a little suspect.
Hi Tabor... Not all of us are subjected to constant RF signals at home. I have not owned a microwave oven, cordless phone, or any wi-fi devices for years now. My exposure to RF is from the new smart meter on my house and the "RF swarm" I am exposed to around the city. I have had constant headaches and have been rather unfocused ever since our meter was put in a year ago. Im working on a solution (a wire mesh to put around the smart meter) so if my health improves I will certainly know it was the meter.
Tabor - I'm against Smart Meters, but you're exactly right that we are surrounded by electromagnetic signals (whether we want to be or not), and in the scheme of things Smart Meters emit miniscule signals. I don't see people rallying against, say, cell phone towers in their town, or their neighbors using wireless Internet or cordless phones or any number of other RF sources.
But I'm against them for two reasons: privacy and cost. Utilities are passing on the cost of these new meters to customers in many cases. (And in doing so, they can eliminate jobs.) And experts have figured out ways of taking a power usage trace from Smart Meters and figuring out every single thing a person did in their house that used electricity. There's no reason for the power company to have that kind of data.
In Southwestern Ontario, Canada, our Smart Meter was installed in January of 2009 and put into use in July of that year. Problems were noticed locally with cordless telephones having a buzzing(interference) but that seems to have been fixed.
Since Smart Meters were put into use, the rates have increased so that now the "off-peak" rate is higher than the "over so many kwh" rate we were paying. Being an at home parent with a husband who has no set work schedule, I find it difficult to use the electricity during off-peak hours, when it's cheapest (and supposedly in lowest demand)...who wants to stay up all night to vacuum, do laundry, cook, etc.?
The power (and water) companies are now seeking rate increases to make up for loss of revenue as households are cutting back usage...darned if you do, darned if you don't, it seems. The "big sell" on the Smart Meters in our area was that a person would be able to control their spending on electricity but our bills are higher than ever, even though we're using less!!!
As for the health concerns, I would say hair loss...because we seem to be pulling ours out over the increase in costs:)
Re: Smart Meters - Radio waves are low-frequency...is the concern that these radio waves are inherently different than the radio frequencies for AM, FM and all other bands? If so, how are they different?
Anais, OK yet another radio wave source to worry about. Cell phones, TVs, computers, alarm systems, radio stations, TV stations, high voltage electrical lines and on and on we could go produce radiation. Is it any wonder we end up with all the weird ailments of the present day. We are swimming in radiation. I don't know where we could go to get away from being bombarded with radio waves of some sort. Technology certainly has come with a price. I don't see that it's going to stop or even slow down but run an ever increasing course through our life time. I worked in the technological field for 41 years and am now seeing many of my retired friends still in their sixties coming up with cancer. Oh, yeah, and let's not forget about radiation therapy. You can tell that I'm not real thrilled about how civilization has advanced in the last fifty years. Don't get me wrong. I love technology but what is the real price we have to pay for it. Well, I'm going to get off the soapbox now.
Have a great day if you can.
Exposure to radio frequency is nearly harmless. As many posters have already pointed out, we are surrounded by RF at almost all times. Consequently, there is a wealth of knowledge concerning RF and their potential dangers. What we know: Radio waves produce a type of radiation known as "non-ionizing radiation". This means that they are generally harmless, except in cases of extremely high and frequent exposure.
Ionizing radiation, produced by high energy sources like gamma rays and X-rays, can be harmful to human health, even in low, infrequent exposures. This type of radiation causes ionization of atoms and molecules, leading to destruction of the molecules in cells and DNA. If DNA is destroyed in a cell, that cell can be cancerous.
Exposure to radio frequency is nearly harmless. As many posters have already pointed out, we are surrounded by RF at almost all times. Consequently, there is a wealth of knowledge concerning RF and their potential dangers. What we know: Radio waves produce a type of radiation known as "non-ionizing radiation". This means that they are generally harmless, except in cases of extremely high and frequent exposure.
Ionizing radiation, produced by high energy sources like gamma rays and X-rays, can be harmful to human health, even in low, infrequent exposures. This type of radiation causes ionization of atoms and molecules, leading to destruction of the molecules in cells and DNA. If DNA is destroyed in a cell, that cell can be cancerous.
There is little, if no, evidence to suggest that smart meter produce such high frequency radio waves to present a risk to human health. While I share the popular opposition to them, based on privacy concerns and cost effectiveness, in order to understand our world, we must understand GOOD science.
And Dave, as one member of the technological field to another, I'm quite surprised to hear that you understand so little of the science of the electromagnetic spectrum.
http://www.lbl.gov/images/MicroWorlds/EMSpec.gif
Smart meters are not to be worried about, we have bid on some of the work in a pre-paid electric meter. You would go to a local retailer, load a prepaid debit card with $xxxx and then stick in a reader/meter, when you've used up what has been loaded the electric goes off. The utilities are racing to get this together. ( gas and electric). There will be no need for billing, meter readers ect. ect. We have been told that in Europe there are several hundred thoudsand of these in use today.