Smart Meters, appliances, technology and the Internet of Things

Useful sites on Smart Meter Studies and Information

Smart Meter Studies and Information

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Currently, specific studies involving Smart Meters are few and far between (something that should be of some concern in itself in a new and untested technology). We will add to this page, as and when more information becomes available. Currently available on the website: Smart meter case series document from the American Academy of Environmental Medicine – AND: Preliminary survey of people affected by smart meters – by Richard Conrad, PhD, the principal of the consulting service Conrad Biologic. A comprehensive round-up of smart meter information can be found here. More information on smart meters can be found on our Other Flyers page.
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The Health Argument Against Wireless Smart Meters

From SkyVision Solutions:

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[Editor Note: This blog article highlights a document authored by Ronald M. Powell, Ph.D. The document makes a strong case against the use of wireless smart meters and for replacing them with safe metering technology. Although specific mention is made in this well-written document to the state of Maryland, reference to any state or province could easily be substituted, as applicable, when electric or other utility companies have been allowed to move forward with wireless smart meter deployments.]

The Health Argument for Replacing Wireless Smart Meters with a Safe Metering Technology in Maryland

by Ronald M. Powell, Ph.D. [1], April 16, 2014

“The electric power companies of Maryland made a dreadful mistake when they elected to install Wireless Smart Meters to measure electrical power. Wherever these meters are installed, they threaten the health of all residents in the community, violate their privacy, increase the cyber vulnerability of the supply of electricity to their homes, decrease their personal security and safety, and threaten property values in the community. And Wireless Smart Meters do all of this without any persuasive evidence of any financial benefit to the customers.”
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Nine Reasons Why Today’s Smart Meter Systems Are a Mistake

Posted on SkyVision Solutions, April 18, 2014.

[Editor Note: This blog article consists of a document authored by Richard H. Conrad, Ph.D., intended as a letter addressed to a utility company that may be considering the installation of smart meters.]

NINE REASONS WHY TODAY’S SMART METER SYSTEMS ARE A MISTAKE

by Richard H. Conrad, Ph.D. biochemist

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INTRODUCTION

Smart electric meters and smart grid systems track and record details of customers’ energy usage, and transmit the information to utilities wirelessly at microwave frequencies. Authorities are attempting to make smart meters mandatory. They are usually installed without permission and sometimes against the wishes of homeowners. Smart meters fill homes with pulsed microwave radiation 24/7 without consent, and infringe on the privacy, security, safety and health of residents.

For the above reasons there is world-wide opposition to smart meters. Fifty-seven jurisdictions in the US are opposed to mandatory smart meters. Fifteen jurisdictions in California have made smart meter installations illegal. More than half of the States in the US have wireless smart meter opposition groups. The opposition is growing and is persistent.

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Five reasons disconnecting ain’t so dumb

Tosh Szatow & Damien Moyse

*This is the second part of a two-part series. The first part – When will people unplug? – was published Friday.

In part one of our series, we outlined findings from research released in January by the clean energy social enterprise Energy for the People and the not-for-profit Alternative Technology Association. Entitled What Happens When We Un-Plug: Exploring the Consumer and Market Implications of Viable Off-Grid Energy Supply, the research found that many Victorians could unplug from the grid by 2020 – using stand-alone power systems combining the use of solar power and battery storage technologies.

Here, we offer our take on the common arguments for why unplugging from the grid is a dumb idea.
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Unplugging from the smart grid soon to be a viable option for some

While plans are well underway for a global smart grid which will be controlled by a few mega-corporations the continuing advances in solar power and storage battery technology are emerging as a significant threat to their plans for, rather than centralization, solar power fosters decentralization and local community control over their energy.

While Energy distributers in Victoria, Aust, , Canada, the US and elsewhere are doing their worst by forcing smart meters on an unwilling populace, there may soon be a consumer counter-revolution underway. This is when it will soon be technically feasible to cut off from a centralised electricity grid althogether but still enjoy all the benefits of electrical power by using new technology solar energy. The following article is from the Climate Spectator, an Australian site and part of the Business Spectator.

From the Climate Spectator

When will people unplug?
Tosh Szatow & Damien Moyse3 hours ago 1

Research released in January by the energy services company Energy for the People and the not-for-profit Alternative Technology Association found that regional towns and new housing estates in Victoria could function viably without connecting to centralised electricity and, in some scenarios, centralised gas grids by 2020.

Entitled What Happens When We Un-Plug: Exploring the Consumer and Market Implications of Viable Off-Grid Energy Supply, the research sits with a growing body of evidence, validating the hypothesis that viable stand-alone energy supply will be with us before 2020, including The Economics of Grid Defection by the Rocky Mountain Institute, research by Morgan Stanley into off-grid tipping points and, most recently, the views of the Independent Market Operator in Western Australia.

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Maine Releases Seriously Flawed and Biased Report on Smart Meter Health and Safety Issues

From SkyVision Solutions

Posted on March 27, 2014 by SkyVision Solutions

On March 26, 2014, three (3) hearing examiners for the state of Maine Public Utilities Commission released a seriously flawed and biased report (and Appendix) concluding that the “installation and operation of … smart meters and related devices and systems are consistent with [the utility’s] statutory obligation to furnish … safe, reasonable, and adequate service.” The report was issued in the form a draft Commission order. Affected parties have until April 11 to file comments or exceptions to the report.

The hearing examiners expressed in the summary portion of the report that their conclusion regarding health and safety issues was based upon seven (7) findings. For purposes of this blog article, each finding will be listed and then an alternative finding (or counterpoint) will be provided that would more correctly and objectively describe a conclusion based upon the facts.

Finding: “The radio frequency (RF) emissions from CMP’s smart meters and other AMI components comply with duly promulgated federal safety regulations and other RF emission standards;”

Counterpoint: Current Federal RF exposure guidelines were never formulated to fully protect human health. In fact, they are only believed to protect against injury that may be caused by acute exposures that result in tissue heating or electric shock and burn. FCC exposure guidelines have no biological relevance to protect humans from chronic exposure to pulsed radiofrequency radiation emitted by devices such as smart meters. Therefore, RF emissions from installed smart meters are simply unregulated. As stated by the U.S. Department of Interior in a letter dated, February 7, 2014, “the electromagnetic radiation standards used by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continue to be based on thermal heating, a criterion now nearly 30 years out of date and inapplicable today.”
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AAEM on Australian smart meter case studies paper

Excerpt (From October 2013 AAEM press release)

Founded in 1965 as a non-profit medical association, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) is an international organization of physician and scientists interested in the complex relationship between the environment and health.

AAEM physicians and physicians world-wide are treating patients who report adverse, debilitating health effects following the installation of smart meters,
which emit electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radiofrequencies (RF). The peer reviewed, scientific literature demonstrates the correlation between EMF/RF exposure and neurological, cardiac, and pulmonary disease as well as reproductive disorders, immune dysfunction, cancer and other health conditions.

The evidence is irrefutable. Despite this research, claims have been made that studies correlating smart meter emissions with adverse health effects do not exist. The AAEM has received a case series submitted by Dr. Federica Lamech, MBBS, Self-Reporting of Symptom Development from Exposure to Wireless Smart Meters’ Radiofrequency Fields in Victoria. AAEM supports this research. It is a well documented 92 case series that is scientifically valid. It clearly demonstrates adverse health effects in the human population from smart meter emissions. The symptoms reported in this case series closely correlate not only with the clinical findings of environmental physicians, but also with the scientific literature.

Many of the symptoms reported including fatigue, headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness and other symptoms have been shown to be triggered by electromagnetic field exposure under double blind, placebo controlled conditions. Symptoms in this case series also correlate with the Austrian Medical Association’s Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of EMF Related Health Problems.

It is critically important to note that the data in this case series indicates that the “vast majority of cases” were not electromagnetically hypersensitive until after installation of smart meters. Dr. Lamech concludes that smart meters “may have unique characteristics that lower people’s threshold for symptom development”.

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A critique of the New Zealand report: “Health and Safety Aspects of Electricity Smart Meters”

During a trip to New Zealand in November 2013 for a series of public presentations on issues raised by the introduction of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (Smart Meters) I was given two pieces of literature on smart meters in New Zealand.

The first was copy of a statement titled “Smart Meters” issued by the Ministry of Health NZ in 2013. This statement claimed, among other things, that smart meter emissions are low, when compared to the New Zealand radiofrequency standard (NZS 2772.1:1999) and that smart meters ”only transmit periodically, using very brief signals.” This second claim is patently incorrect and is of concern that the Ministry of Health could get this fact so wrong as even a brief look at the available information on how smart meters work clearly shows that they do emit “very brief signals” but that they are emitted constantly throughout a 24 hour cycle. This will be discussed later in this paper.

The second was a widely circulated report: Health and Safety Aspects of Electricity Smart Meters produced by New Zealand’s Electric Power Engineering Centre (EPEC) at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch in 2012. This report is now being circulated in New Zealand as evidence of the safety of smart meter technology. As the EPEC report claims to be addressing the health aspects of smart meter deployment in relation to the official radiofrequency exposure standard I address the following points:

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