PG&E SMART METERS FOUR TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN ORIGINALLY PREDICTED:
FCC safety limit violations possible in homes
Marin County – A new study shows that PG&E smart meter RF emissions are significantly more powerful than previously thought, potentially causing more living space to exceed FCC public safety standards.
Sage Associates is releasing results of a new study that predict significantly higher radiofrequency radiation levels and more FCC public safety limit violations in some PG&E smart meters. It will be published on-line Friday, February 18th as an addendum to “Assessment of Radiofrequency Microwave Radiation Emissions from Smart Meters.”
[above: standard warning sticker on the side of PG&E ‘smart’ meters being installed in Marin County, CA. ]
Originally, Sage Associates modeled the ITRON SKAMI-4 meter, which showed FCC violations were possible within 6 inches of the meter. The latest study radiofrequency radiation emissions for a PG&E smart meter (Silver Springs OWS-NIC514) will be 4.87 times stronger than the ITRON meter. This latest computer modeling report indicates that policy makers should ask for full information on all types of smart meters being deployed across California, since there be may be substantial differences in potential health risks and impacts to private property.
“The emissions from one meter are strong enough that the public is put at risk from exposures outward from the meter from approximately one foot to over six feet, depending on the reflection factor,” says Cindy Sage, Sage Associates. “For multiple meters at the same location, the zone of impact where FCC limits may be violated is somewhere between three feet and 19 feet, depending on the reflection factor.”
“PG&E is misleading the public with false assurances of safety. Smart Meter radiation will be a permanent part of the home, and people have no idea how high their chronic RF exposure might be. In reality, each Smart Meter functions like a cell antenna, relaying signals from other meters, and adds significantly to the existing radiation exposure already in the environment”, according to Barry A. Smith of the Environmental Health Coalition of West Marin.
In all meters studied to date, Sage Associates reported “excessively elevated radiofrequency/microwave radiation levels are likely to occur within occupied space of single family homes and multi-family dwellings. Scientific studies report risks for cancer, neurological diseases and cardiac problems at levels at and below those produced by smart meters. California’s leaders should be concerned that the smart meter wireless rollout may cost dearly in terms of health risks and high economic costs to consumers, with very little energy savings to show for it”.
Contact: Barry A. Smith Co-Director Environmental Health Coalition of West Marin
(415) 663-8025 bsmith@environmentalhealthcoalition.org
San Francisco 2-16-11 Citizens express their opposition to PG&E’s forced installation of wireless so-called ‘smart’ meters in front of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the agency in charge of regulating the company’s activities. They charge the Commission with complicity through lax public safety enforcement and call for the resignation of Michael Peevey, the current CPUC president. [ scroll down for video ]
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Resistance is Fertile!
As Egyptians demonstrate the power of People Power, we review the weeks coverage of California’s growing SMeter pushback movement – including passage of a moratorium ordinance in Capitola. Will PG&E headman Peter Darbee follow Egypt’s erstwhile strongman Mubarak into well-funded oblivion?
[ Scroll down for more stories and video links. ]
Smart meter shock: electrical hazards found in 3500 homes
Melissa Fyfe February 13, 2011 The Age – Australia
VICTORIA’S energy regulator has conceded smart meter contractors might lack required skills and is reviewing the qualifications of workers rolling out the $2 billion scheme.
The Sunday Age can also reveal that, in the course of their work, smart meter installers have identified dangerous and possibly life-threatening electrical hazards in 3500 Victorian homes….
This comes after the Electrical Trades Union raised concerns about skilled migrants working as installers with qualifications that would not pass Victorian standards. The Sunday Age believes the regulator is mostly concerned about the qualifications of Indian workers who come to Victoria via South Australia.
The regulator recently moved to allay fears over the smart meter program, after a Highett woman received an electric shock when her meter was incorrectly installed. It is understood the qualifications of the installer in that incident sparked the regulator’s concerns.
PG&E Still Sails Smooth, and That’s the Rub
By JONATHAN WEBER – NEW YORK TIMES
Print edition, February 6, 2011 – Page 27A
Jonathan Weber writes a column for The Bay Citizen.
For Pacific Gas & Electric, 2010 was a horrendous year.
One of its big gas lines exploded, killing eight people and destroying a neighborhood. Investigators soon discovered that the company lacks even basic information about its gas lines and runs a safety and inspection regime that could generously be described as inadequate.
The company spent $46 million on a cynically self-serving voter initiative to block potential competitors — and lost.
Its initiative to install “smart meters” in millions of homes, to manage electricity distribution more efficiently, is facing a backlash from consumers who fear inaccurate meter readings and possible health effects. Many utilities have had trouble with these meters, and PG&E’s program was earlier and more ambitious than most, but an investigation ordered by the state found that the company’s poor customer service exacerbated its problems.
What consequences have PG&E and its executives faced for these blunders? None. The stock is doing just fine. The California Public Utilities Commission has awarded the company almost $30 million in bonuses for energy-saving targets that weren’t achieved. The company plans to hire a new gas operations executive, but no one has lost his job — except a hapless manager who thought it would be smart to spy on the online discussions of smart-meter opponents.
When it comes to accountability, PG&E is making Wall Street bankers look good. The company’s incompetence, arguably, has been matched only by the performance of its regulator…
Obama promotes plan for near universal wireless
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Erica Werner, Associated Press
MARQUETTE, Mich. – President Barack Obama promoted plans Thursday to bring high-speed wireless to nearly all American households, pushing his domestic agenda in a small, snowy city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on a day of dramatic developments in Egypt.
ahumanright.org plans to buy satellite and provide free Internet access for entire world
For those of us who live in the developed world, internet access has become pretty much a given. It’s become so ubiquitous that we almost expect to have it at all times and in all places, but even in this “Information Age,” the majority of the world’s population lacks access to the internet – either because service isn’t available where they are, or they can’t afford it. Kosta Grammatis has a plan, however. Through his charity group ahumanright.org, Grammatis aims to set up a network of satellites that will provide free internet access to everyone in the world. He’s starting by attempting to buy a single used satellite that’s already in orbit and moving it to a location above a developing country.
The spacecraft in question is the Terrestar-1 communications satellite. Given that the company that owns it, Terrestar, has recently filed for bankruptcy, it may soon be up for sale.
Ember Needs A Wake-Up Call From The CIA
Forbes
Ember Corporation, a privately-held company based in Boston, MA with offices in the U.K. and China (Hong Kong) is a leading supplier of the “brains” of Smart Grid devices – semiconductor chips that enable the smart meter on your house to wirelessly send data about your power consumption to your power grid provider. It also allows your power company to control the supply of energy to every house in its service area up to and including a complete disconnection of service… The Problem
The encryption keys that provide for ZigBee’s vaunted security are transmitted in plain text. That’s the equivalent of using the word “password” as your password…this needs to be addressed at the highest levels….
“NASA did not find an electronic cause of large throttle openings that can result in UA incidents.” Sage comments: No evidence just means the study could not replicate the conditions which could have caused unintended accelerations. It is by no means an ‘all clear’ for Toyota. The failure of ‘automatic shut-off systems’ should be investigated further, to see if spurious RF signals in the environment, that are growing at an exponential rate (wireless technologies, wireless devices, smart-grid wireless systems, etc) may over-ride or cause vulnerable electronic systems to malfunction, or fail.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PG&E Demands Immediate Removal of Meter Cages
Date: February 11, 2011
Contact Tobie Cecil 915-7704
Nina Beety 655-9902
Marina Property Manager protects 70 families at apartment complex from Smart Meter deployment by installing cages around gas and electric meters. PG&E says, remove cages or we’ll call the fire department and have you fined! Marina Fire Department Chief says the cages are fine.
Marina resident and property manager Tobie Cecil has installed cages around the 142 electric and gas meters in the 70-unit apartment complex he manages on the Monterey Bay. But that’s not okay with PG&E as they attempt to deploy Smart Meters to every resident in the town of Marina. Yesterday a PG&E rep called Cecil and told him to remove the cages immediately or PG&E would call the Marina Fire Department to have fines issued.
Tobie Cecil: “We put up the meter cages and signs to announce to PG&E and the Wellington Energy installers that we and the 70 families at Marina Meadows Apartments do not want Smart Meters here because they pose health, financial, safety and privacy problems.”
Cecil subsequently spoke with Marina Fire Chief Harold Kelly who inspected the cages and said, “As long as the meters are accessible, they’re fine.”
Cecil said that he and his wife have gathered over 100 signatures from residents and neighbors who oppose the deployment of Smart Meters in their small coastal community….
CAPITOLA PASSES SMART METER MORATORIUM URGENCY ORDINANCE FOR ONE YEAR. [ From a local activist – ]
Thanks to:
Karen Nevis – Karen has stayed calm and composed for nearly a year communicating with the city council and individual members on a regular basis and keeping them up to date on this dumb WIRELESS meter issue. No matter how closed some of the councilmembers have been (though Capitola also has a couple of the very best councilmembers and clerk in the state) and no matter how many disappointments were experienced, Karen stayed with it and last night she WON!
Marilyn Garrett – Marilyn has been pounding the pavement and city council meetings and every other kind of organization meeting you can imagine throughout the county of Santa Cruz and Monterey on an everyday basis for many years regarding this deceptive and well covered up issue of WIRELESS radiation.
Capitola had previously failed to pass an urgency ordinance because one councilman recused himself due to pension from PG&E, so back in 2010, the vote was 3-1 in favor, but an urgency ordinance requires four YES votes to pass, 80% is required. So it failed back in 2010.
Now, in 2011 and with two new council members, the issue was raised again.
One new member said she agreed with the opposition to the program, but didn’t think the ordinance could do anything.
The other new member had some doubts also about the effectiveness of the ordinance and he also interpreted the CCST report to show that the meters were safe rather than the proper interpretation to declare that the non-ionizing radiation effects, non thermal effects, needed to be further reviewed and in fact HAD NOT BEEN reported or considered by the CCST report.
But Michael Boyd, the fellow that has the petition filed with the PUC regarding many problems including the possibility of fire in San Bruno from the Wireless meters, told the council that they could red tag PG&E Wireless smart meters since they are NOT “UL” listed…. [This proved to be true on examination of a Smart Meter supplied by PG&E representatives.] FINAL RESULT: 4-1 PASSED
Get Internet Access When Your Government Shuts It Down
Does your government have an Internet kill-switch? Read our guide to Guerrilla Networking and be prepared for when the lines get cut.
By Patrick Miller, David Daw, PCWorld Jan 28, 2011 3:50 pm
These days, no popular movement goes without an Internet presence of some kind, whether it’s organizing on Facebook or spreading the word through Twitter. And as we’ve seen in Egypt, that means that your Internet connection can be the first to go. Whether you’re trying to check in with your family, contact your friends, or simply spread the word, here are a few ways to build some basic network connectivity when you can’t rely on your cellular or landline Internet connections.
And – last but not least – an excellent information site to check out: Wireless Technologies & Health
Calling for Urgent Precautionary Measures
As modern technology evolves, we are exposed to more electromagnetic fields than before. Exercising precautions now, in light of early warnings, may help to prevent chronic illnesses later.
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Wireless spectrum: It’s the air that mobile service providers breathe, and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission as of late has been actively freeing up chunks of wireless spectrum for our insatiable appetite for wireless services. But turns out it’s not just the cell phone companies, ambitious new ventures (LightSquared!) or Google that want more spectrum; utilities want more, too.
This week, the trade group the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) says it has filed a request with the FCC to seek shared use of spectrum that will likely be allocated for public safety use (so, say police and firemen in your area could use mission-critical wireless services over the spectrum to get their jobs done). The chunk of spectrum is out of the 700 MHz band, and the UTC says that utilities should be eligible to share the spectrum with public safety services because they provide “public safety services.” Read more…
…As the state continues down the long, windy path toward a smart grid, if demand drops and backup power plants begin to close their doors, the smart meter dust-up will fall into the dustbin of history. But if energy consumption doesn’t budge, the state’s precipitous embrace of wireless smart meters may garner more attention.
Chris Danforth, a smart meter expert with the PUC’s own Division of Ratepayer Advocates, noted that PG&E’s initial proposal to the PUC would have relied on a “power-line carrier.” But the company couldn’t transmit data fast and reliably enough, according to Danforth, “so they had to change to a radio carrier — and then all these issues developed with radio.”
The PUC is deliberating over privacy concerns, but Danforth also acknowledges that the PUC’s report “may not have gone far enough with non-thermal impacts” and that “the commission should continue to look at this issue in some kind of public forum.”
Which is a big part of what Hart’s and Sandizell’s groups are demanding — so maybe they aren’t so crazy after all.
…There is no question that today’s spread spectrum technology used for SmartMeter radio transmission and reception is greatly advanced using complex algorithms and clever frequency hiding schemes, but these advancements are just as vulnerable as the less sophisticated ones that were introduced during World War II and used throughout the intervening years. No matter how well you design and build a security system, someone will figure out how to hack it. Read more…
Should the Wireless Sector be Concerned with Increasing EMF Militancy ?
from StimulatingBroadband.com, which bills itself as ‘Portal for the New American Broadband Economy’
“…Today’s arrests mark a new flash point among anti-smart meter groups scattered around the nation and electric utilities installing the terminals which are key elements of the emerging American smart grid infrastructure….
“When fellow Americans, no matter how few and no matter how vilified, are going into the streets to get arrested about something our industry is doing, is that really a good thing for us? Anyone that thinks it is a good thing has never actually done the hard work of permitting, licensing, or deploying the technologies that drive our country’s economy.
“Let’s drop back and listen, do some more studies, allow opt outs when necessary. The big power monopolies, like PG&E, trace their ancestry back to the robber baron era. They often remind us of that. Let’s remember that many of us in competitive telecom grew up fighting another monopoly called the Bell System. We had the American consumer on our side as we did. Let’s remember that too.”
CPUC cozies up even closer to for-profit utilities
By Dennis Wyatt – Managing Editor – Manteca Bulletin
“…Maybe, just maybe, the $20,000 a table event may have been the last supper for cronyism that has turned the CPUC into a geriatric lapdog for the Big Three of California for-profit utilities.”
This report addresses communications issues related to the Smart Grid, including policy recommendations to provide utilities with increased flexibility and choice in communications options. It addresses the capability of both proprietary and commercial networks to serve the communications needs of utilities, and notes that identifying the most appropriate communications technology or network will require the consideration of a variety of factors, including the particular application in question and the location in which a technology is being deployed.
This report examines how legal and regulatory regimes are evolving to better accommodate innovation, privacy, and data-security in the development of Smart Grid technologies that could potentially draw upon personal energy-usage data. The report surveys industry, state, and federal practices in this evolving area to alert industry leaders, state regulators, and federal policy makers to trends and practices that seem most likely to accommodate all of these values and maximize the value of Smart Grid technologies. The report discusses issues on which there is broad consensus, such as the need to educate consumers about the benefits of Smart Grid technologies, and issues on which there is not yet agreement, such as the type of data that utilities should be allowed to collect and disclose to third parties, and frames these issues for further discussion.
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EXPERTS COMMENT ON SMART METER STUDY
International Scientists Challenge CCST Conclusions
February 1, 2011
Yesterday was the deadline for comments on the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) Smart Meter Report, “Health Impacts of Radio Frequency From Smart Meters.” This report was produced in response to California Assembly members Jared Huffman (Marin) and Bill Monning (Santa Cruz) inquiry into the safety of smart meter wireless technology and the possible inadequacy of the federal radio frequency radiation (RF) safety standards.
International science and medical experts from Israel, Sweden, Canada, Greece and the US criticize the CCST findings. Although previous headlines varied about the results of the study, these experts agree, the study fails to protect public health.
Elihu D Richter MD, MPH from Israel is “a medical epidemiologist who has assessed source-exposure-effect relationships for many chemical and physical agents over the past 40 years.” Dr. Richter writes, “ It is fair to say that we are no longer talking about mere precaution of uncertain risk, but about prevention of highly probable and known risks. Based on the accumulating evidence, it is now fairly certain that there will be widespread adverse public health impacts.”
Dr. David Carpenter, public health physician and former Dean of the School of Public Health at the University at Albany, New York writes, “This document is not an accurate description of the state of the science on the issue of radiofrequency fields, and is full of inaccuracies.” He calls the report “faulty” and states, “The evidence for adverse effects of radiofrequency radiation is currently strong and grows stronger with each new study.”
Olle Johansson, PhD, Swedish Professor from the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute writes, “Many smart meters are close to beds, kitchens, playrooms, and similar locations. These wireless systems are never off, and the exposure is not voluntary. The smart meters are being forced on citizens everywhere. Based on this, the inauguration of smart meters with grudging and involuntary exposure of millions to billions of human beings to pulsed microwave radiation should immediately be prohibited…”
Lukas H. Margaritis, Professor of Cell Biology and Electron Microscopy and Adamantia F. Fragopoulou, Biologist and Researcher from the University of Athens, Greece, comment, “The California Council of Science and Technology has released a report on WIRELESS SMART METERS, in which any relation with health hazards has been bypassed. It is however ‘common secret’ between the researchers in the field of electromagnetic biology that such a statement has absolutely no scientific validity…”
Raymond Richard Neutra MD, DrPH, (CA EMF program) concludes his comments by stating, “This is not the way I would like to see public policy pursued. Unfortunately you are not alone in this pattern of language use, hidden assumptions and making the uncertain seem certain so a to provide cover for policy.”
These and more expert comments can be found at Sage Reports.
PG&E SMART METERS FOUR TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN ORIGINALLY PREDICTED:
