Are smart meters safe?

We probably haven't dedicated enough space to one of the trendiest items for politicians/business people trying to promote clean energy and energy efficiency: the smart grid and smart meters. Probably because we think they're a bit overrated, a fact we hit on in our post "Smart Grid - Who benefits most, utilities or customers". This thought was reinforced in our post "Living with a smart meter" where we chronicled Gary Hart's observations about his life with a PG&E installed smart meter.

Aside from the fact of how useful smart meters are to utility customers, what about something more important: the safety of smart meters. There is at least one smart grid safety documentary and a blog titled Stop Smart Meters that don't think they're safe.

The Electric Power Research Institute researched the safety of smart meters last year and they were pretty clear that they're evaluation found that radiation from smart meters fell well below the FCC limits on radiation:

The EPRI research addressed RF from a specific type of smart meter with measurements conducted at the manufacturer’s test facility. For a continuously-operating rack of 10 meters, each operating at a nominal power rating of 250 milliwatts (typical of many residential units), the RF power density level 1 foot in front of the rack was 8 percent of the FCC limit; at 20 and 50 feet, these values dropped to 0.18 and 0.11 percent, respectively. From 8 inches behind the rack, RF power density was 0.6 percent of the FCC limit.

Notice that their report said "8 percent of", not "8 percent over".

According to a Grist article on the safety of smart meters, the radiation from a cellphone at your ear is 1000 micro-watts/cm^2! Almost 5 times the maximum level that the Stop Smart Meter film links to in a research PDF. So why aren't these documentaries focusing on cell phones instead of smart meters? I guess all these people worried about smart meters don't use cell phones.

While I'm not sure if smart meters actually help customers save energy, I wouldn't be worried about the safety of a smart meter if I had one on my home. I'd be more worried about fossil fuel power pollution. When researching this issue for yourself, I would be wary about looking at numbers of radiation that aren't compared to other sources of radiation that we live with in our daily lives. Also, keep in mind that you should only be concerned with the radiation you would receive from a smart meter while living in your home, not 1 meter in front of the meter. How often have you stood right in front of your existing meter? What about the amount of time you spend with a cell phone inches from your brain!

What are your thoughts?

Tags:

living with smart meter

safety of smart meters

smart meters safe

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/16/2012 - 04:23

Hydro and their installation company Corix, need to be stopped! I fear some elderly couple or handycapped persons may become victoms of a poorly installed SmartMeter that has decided to overheat and burn their home down! To desturb an old analogue meter, that may have oxidized pins and, try to connect a new unit with new pins, without proper replacement of all old connecting hardware is asking for trouble! If you have resistance and arcing due to corrosion, it may get hot enough to melt insulation/plastic etc (house fire) This may not be the meters fault or the house wiring, but how these meters are being installed! I understand, these meters are being changed, even if the home owners are not in attendance! Hey folks, the guys doing the installation, are they certified electricians? What about house insurance issues? Correct me if wrong, but do we not have to hire a certified electrician for any work that involves 240 vac in the breaker box or power mains areas? Damage to appilances, the smartmeter, or both could result! I believe this technology to be flawed! If that is believed incorrect, then prove why the appliance damage, house fires and people getting sick in Ontario, Austrailia, and all over the United States! Oh yes, I have noticed a lot of house fires recently! Also, what about the interference to other electronics, and licenced users of this band of frequencies (902 mhz to 928mhz) chosen for SmartMeter operation. It is my understanding that Hydros use of this band is unlicenced! How can they not interfere with all others on this band, when the SmartMeter uses a frequency hopping system! This means, that a SmartMeter signal hops all over the band and, since the average home electronics has a very broadband receiver, interference cannot be avoided! The 900 mhz transmitter in these smartmeters is 1 watt output power and, for comparison, the average home wireless router is less than 1/10 th of that! On the topic of interference, the internal SmartMeter power supply may be genereating lots of interference called hash! This can cause am radios and many other home devices to work poorly or not at all! I believe this power supply to be called a switching power supply and, they are famous for interference! That interference will travel all over your house wiring and, over the air for a distance! If we let Hydro continue, this will only be the start of problems! When the SmartMeter is installed, the 900 mhz transceiver is operating and, a 2.4 Ghz (gigaherz) transceiver is not activated, but contained within every meter! At some not to distant time, that 2.4 ghz transceiver will be used to communicate with other smart devices in the home and, possibly a gas meter transceiver! A water meter transceiver will also communicate via 2.4ghz! Hydro' estimated transmit time daily is only in part! These meters have an antenna inside the meter container for 900 mhz, 2.4ghz and possibly a cellular freq! Because stationary or moving objects may prevent communication between the meter and collection point, your neighbours meter will relay the signal and that will happen untill it is received by that same collection point! I am not sure how many homes to a collection point in Canada, but some places in the States are 500 to 700 homes to one collection point! How could a SmartMeter only transmit for a minute a day if relaying other meter info, sending that meters info, sending beacon signals, communicating with gas/water devices and, communicating with smart device equiped home appilances A concerned B.C. Canada homeowner

Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/22/2012 - 15:38

Here's a great video report that debunks the anti-smartmeter theories: http://youtu.be/4d4FEngu4p4

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/13/2012 - 01:42

Yes - smart meters are safe (or at least of much lower risk that many everyday activities). There doesn't seem to be any evidence of actual harm from the levels of EM produced by smart meters. Comparisons with cell phones, or with wifi routers, probably won't convince certain people of their safety though. There are people that claim sensitivity to radio waves - and at least some of those people do have a consistent story - they refuse to use cell phones or have wifi in their houses. I don't know if anyone with such a claimed sensitivity to EM has undergone any rigorous tests to confirm their self diagnosis. Some pieces of the government are playing along with this. San Francisco recently passed an ordinance requiring cell phones (or perhaps their packaging) to be labelled with relative EM radiation levels ... so that consumers could make "informed choices" when buying. It isn't clear how informed those choices would be because there seem to be huge variations in actual radiation from the cell phone - depending on how much signal it thinks it needs to make a good connection to the local cell tower.

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/13/2012 - 05:49

SMART METERS AND HUMAN BIOLOGY DAMAGE LINKED Laboratory Observations in U.S. & Europe Show Smart Meter Radiation Damage to Human Biology. (1) Human Cell Damage (2) DNA Chain Breaks (3) Breaches In The Blood-brain barrier from Smart Meter Radiation at levels considerably lower than emitted by smart meters. But sheep and parrots continue to follow and repeat industry propaganda pretending safety, similar to the cigarette safety propaganda delivered to the public for almost 100 years. THE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, STATE OF CALIFORNIA HEALTH DEPARTMENT IN JANUARY 2012 finally completed a report on Smart Meter Health Effects. - Smart meters expose persons in the home to FULL BODY RADIATION EXPOSURES 50 to 450 times greater radiation than cell phones depending on proximity in the home to the smart meter attached to outside wall. - Smart meters emit radiation almost continuously throughout the day 24/7, 365 days per year. - Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier in the head, harmful effects on sperm, double strand breaks in DNA which could lead to cancer genesis, stress gene activation indicating exposure to a toxin, and alterations in brain glucose metabolism. - Electro Hypersensitivity is a real and sometimes debilitating problem for the affected persons. - FCC guidelines are irrelevant and cannot be used for any claims of Smart Meter safety unless heat damage is involved. Utility company claims of “No proof” of illness were mathematical misrepresentations because no illness link is proved at 100%. Instead, “Overwhelming evidence” is used to determine likelihood of illness and “Overwhelming evidence” does exist regarding smart meters.

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/13/2012 - 10:08

Our utility in Maine (Central Maine Power) has an excellent FAQ about smart meters that debunks a lot of the concerns: http://www.cmpco.com/smartmeter/ They also have an excellent infographic page as a pdf document created by a Princeton PhD: http://www.cmpco.com/MediaLibrary/3/6/Content%20Management/YourAccount/PDFs%20and%20Docs/RF_FactSheet_web.pdf Anyone who reads through this information will quickly realize that smart meters produce such a tiny amount of RF energy that it is barely measurable compared to cell phones. Even the human body radiates 20 times as much RF as a smart meter for heavens sake!

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/13/2012 - 10:32

Smart meters have been in place in the Seattle metro area (specifically Puget Sound Energy's million plus customers) for over a decade now. And guess what? We haven't seen a single statistical drop in public health over that time, and zero cases of related or indirect health issues. If a million+ people, over a decade, isn't enough of a sample size to show that smart meters aren't dangerous, then you should readjust your tinfoil hat.

ckmapawatt Mon, 02/13/2012 - 12:49

Robert, Can you please provide the links to these studies so people can check them out?

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/13/2012 - 13:13

The other thing to keep in mind when reading about these power density numbers is whether they are time-averaged or not. A very short pulse may have a fair bit of intensity to it; averaged over 24h it may be very little. I'm no expert in this field, and I don't know about the physiological response for shorter/higher energy vs. longer / lower energy, etc, but you need to know what you're reading to be able to make apples::apples comparisons. I do have some mild concerns about all the RF in our lives, but I don't put "smart meters" very high on that list - I, too, think more about the cell phone pressed against my skull (and the wireless laptop on my ... lap). I think sometimes the RF argument is used as a proxy for other concerns. "I &gt;want&lt; a cell phone, so that RF is fine. I had no choice about a smart meter, so that (much smaller) RF is unacceptable!&quot; ... or something like that.

ckmapawatt Mon, 02/13/2012 - 18:21

Eric, I think your last 2 sentences hit the nail on the head. People don't have a choice (and I'm not saying they should if it's safe) so they are upset about it. If they really want to opt out, they could always cancel their electric service and install solar on their roof to a battery bank.

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/13/2012 - 19:22

COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT REPORT ON SMART METERS Again, here is the Santa Cruz County, State of California Health Department Report on Smart Meters (statements, not all 11 pages). Because smart meters are relatively new in the U.S., I believe this report to be the FIRST by a public health department in the U.S. on specifically smart meters. - Smart meters expose persons in the home to FULL BODY RADIATION EXPOSURES 50 to 450 times greater radiation than cell phones depending on proximity in the home to the smart meter attached to outside wall. - Smart meters emit radiation almost continuously throughout the day 24/7, 365 days per year. - Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier in the head, harmful effects on sperm, double strand breaks in DNA which could lead to cancer genesis, stress gene activation indicating exposure to a toxin, and alterations in brain glucose metabolism. - Electro Hypersensitivity is a real and sometimes debilitating problem for the affected persons. - FCC guidelines are irrelevant and cannot be used for any claims of Smart Meter safety unless heat damage is involved. - Smart meter exposure is Involuntary exposure. Governmental agencies for protecting public health and safety should be much more vigilant towards involuntary environmental exposures because governmental agencies are the only defense against such involuntary exposure. I don't know Seattle, but in California the PG$E utility company Director of Smart Meters (William Devereaux) had to resign over dishonesty issues related to shilling on websites, and the CEO of PG$E was terminated for the damage and deaths to customers in San Bruno and other areas he caused due to his irresponsibility and lack of attention to their safety. A number of comments on this sight sound almost identical to the utility company shills that were used in California.

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