Controversy Over Safety of Smart Meters Flares Up

A new study from the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) released a week ago has found that the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) standard on exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation provides an adequate factor of safety against known thermally induced health impacts for smart meters. The report, “ Health Impacts of Radio Frequency from Smart Meters ,” was prepared at the request of California Assembly members Jared Huffman (D - Marin) and Bill Monning (D – Santa Cruz). Its aim was to address whether the FCC standards for smart meters are sufficiently protective of public health and whether additional technology specific standards are needed for these and other household devices to ensure adequate protection from adverse health effects. The project team was led by Rollin Richmond, president of Humboldt State University, and the findings were based on extensive literature review and input from technical experts. The report finds that to date, scientific studies have not identified or confirmed negative health effects from the potential non-thermal impacts of RF emissions such as those produced by existing common household electronic devices and smart meters. Further, not enough is currently known about the potential non-thermal impacts of RF emissions to identify or recommend additional standards for such impacts. The thermal impacts of RF pertain to tissue heating from the absorbed energy associated with these emissions, while the non-thermal effects would include cumulative or prolonged exposure to lower levels of RF emissions. The controversy kicked up a notch last week when the Marin County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that deems the installation of smart meters a misdemeanor public nuisance in the unincorporated areas of the county, comprising about 70,000 of the county's 260,000 residents. In addition to electromagnetic health risks, the board cited concerns about meters being used to collect information about residents' activities, impacts on aesthetics and potential damage to amateur radio networks. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) actually has jurisdiction over the installations, not the County, but the action makes a clear point. The board has asked the CPUC before to declare a moratorium on the meters, following the lead of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Some 20 California cities and counties, including the towns of Fairfax and Watsonville, as well as Santa Cruz County, have also passed laws against the meters. A spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which dismissed an executive last November after he admitted to monitoring smart-meter opponents online, said the company planned to continue smart-meter installation despite the ordinance. "We continue to be committed to engaging fully with our customers as well as in communities where smart meters are being installed or are about to be installed," utility spokesman Jeff Smith said. "Ultimately, continuing the program will allow all our customers to enjoy the benefits of them." Among the benefits, Smith said, are faster power-outage detection, daily and hourly summaries of energy use for residents and alerts when a home is about to use enough energy to enter into a higher pricing tier. Katharina Sandizell, a mother of two who was arrested last month for blocking meter installation trucks on a public road in Inverness Park, noted that San Francisco passed a law last year requiring cell phone retailers to post information on the radiation produced by each type of phone. Smart meters emit more radiation than phones, she said. "With cell phones, you can choose not to have them, or to turn it off when you're not using it or you can use a headset," she said. "With the smart meter, it's just constantly on and you can't turn it off." "The installation of smart meters should be halted due to the associated health and environmental risks to our communities” said Stephany Aguilar, Council Member for the City of Scotts Valley. “My being electrically sensitive reinforces my belief that people have a right to be safe in the homes. It is also imperative that we be provided an accurate accounting of our energy usage.” Assemblyman Huffman has introduced AB 37 that would require the CPUC to suspend smart meter installation until there is a provision to allow residents to opt out of the program. "This bill is about giving consumers reasonable choices," Huffman said. "Whether or not you believe RF exposures from smart meters are harmful, it's only fair that consumers who are concerned about health effects be given complete technical information and the choice of another technology for devices that are installed at their homes." But are they actually dangerous? A study released last week by environmental consulting firm Sage Associates contends that they are. The report claims violations of federal emissions standards at a variety of distances from the meters and argues that the devices are more dangerous when grouped together and when coupled with other wireless technologies. "Indiscriminate exposure to environmentally ubiquitous pulsed RF from the rollout of millions of new RF sources (smart meters) will mean far greater general population exposures, and potential health consequences," the study says. The Federal Communications Commission has classified the meters as devices that will be used more than 20 centimeters away from the body and thus can meet an emissions standard that is averaged over time, taking into account the maximum emissions during each transmission. Determining the specific absorption rate (SAR) by the body is not necessary, as it is for cell phones, FCC says. Utility Consumers' Action Network, a CPUC consumer advocacy group from San Diego, cites a November 2010 study by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention that found no dangers associated with smart meters. "Smart meters appear to be similar to having a wireless router on the side of a house that operates only 10 percent of the time," UCAN says. The CPUC itself has been reluctant to enter the debate, but its consumer watchdog arm, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates, has been an avid observer. The sheer amount of concern compels the agency to act, said Joe Como, DRA's acting director and general counsel. "We're not saying there is a health-related problem from exposure to smart meters, but we're saying there is enough public concern and enough studies out there that indicate there may be a health threat in terms of EMF exposure generally that the commission needs to take it seriously and be aboveboard -- having the right kind of experts addressing the problem, making reports available -- so there's an open dialogue about what should be done," Como said. According to the CCST report the RF levels of an always on smart meter range from 4 µW/cm2 at 10 feet to 40 µW/cm2 at 3 feet. Even this latter factor is much smaller than the radiation from microwave ovens and cellphones, which can range up to 200 µW/cm2 and 5,000 µW/cm2 respectively under normal conditions of use. Notwithstanding its findings the report comments that the topic of potential health impacts from RF exposure in general, including the small RF exposure levels of smart meters, continues to be of concern. To this end as wireless technologies of all types increase in usage, it will be important to continue to quantitatively assess the levels of RF emissions from common household devices and smart meters to which the public may be exposed, and to investigate potential thermal and non-thermal impacts of such RF emissions on human health. Further, the CCST recommends that the California PUC consider doing an independent review of the deployment of smart meters to determine if they are installed and operating consistent with the information provided to the consumer, and consideration could be given to alternative smart meter configurations (such as wired) in those cases where wireless meters continue to be of concern to consumers. Comments on the report are now being accepted up to January 31. Send them to: California Council on Science and Technology 1130 K Street, Suite 280 Sacramento, California 95814 (916) 492-0996 ccst@ccst.us

Over 11K Stories!

| Independently Powered Energy News

Controversy Over Safety of Smart Meters Flares Up

dgrandy

Related Posts

Budget Bill May Fund Diablo Nuclear Plant Extension, Raising Big Safety Issues

California Public Utilities Commission Okays Local Supply Reserves

Bills Pass that Move the Needle on Non Fossil Energy Pass

Energy Commission Adopts Integrated Energy Policy Report Update