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Explore the risks and controversies surrounding smart meters, including health concerns, invasion of privacy, and vulnerability to hackers. Learn about alternatives and what you can do.
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Outline of Talk • Overview • Illness Caused By Radio Frequencies • Illness Caused by “Dirty Electricity” • The Privacy Issue • DTE’s New Opt-Out Plan • What Can We Do? • The McMillin Bill
Appearance of Smart Meter • No longer has the familiar big wheel or the clock dials. • Has an electronic digital display that flashes different numbers in sequence.
Functions of Smart Meter • Can measure and store, or transmit, usage information in intervals of an hour or less, enabling the utility to see your usage broken down, in some cases, to the exact time of day. • Uses radio waves, or a hard wired internet connection for real-time transmission of the data to the utility.
smart meter functions continued: • Uses two way communication so that the utility can send signals to the meter as well as receive signals from the meter. • Often has the ability to turn service on or off remotely – when a bill has not been paid, or at time of move-in or move-out.
smart meter functions continued: • Acts as a gateway for communication by the electric utility to and from individual appliances within the home – once the home has installed the next generation of appliances that will contain ‘smart chips’.
Is All This Data Collection Really Necessary? • It reveals information to the utility, and possibly others, about your lifestyle and heretofore private activities within the home. • Let us examine the arguments of the utilities to see if they really need all this data.
Why do utilities say they need smart meters? • To encourage customers to conserve energy AND to shift some of their energy demand to off-peak times of day. • Conservation to be encouraged by providing customers the ability to see their energy usage by the hour thru an internet display or in real time on a home monitor.
Do Smart Meters Really Conserve Energy? NO – Only the customer can do that by making changes in lifestyle. No study to date has shown real evidence that customers change their behavior because a smart meter was installed.
But let’s say there is a way to make these incentives work. • Does that mean we need ‘smart meters’? • NO – All that would be needed is dual register meters that accumulate peak time usage in one register and off peak usage in the other register.
Dual Register Electric Meter Utility would send signal to meter during time of peak demand to turn on the peak usage counter.
Why else do utilities say they need all this data? • To eliminate the cost of meter readers. • But there are systems in use by other utilities called “AMR” systems, which automatically transmit monthly reads to a drive by vehicle, only once/month.
Are smart meters necessary to promptly report power outages? • Utilities want to be alerted to power outages and be able to dispatch service personnel quickly to correct these. • All that would be needed is a radio signal (battery powered) transmitted ONLY when there is an outage!
Who Pays for Smart Meters? • We all do – through our federal taxes and through the extra costs that will be passed on to us through our monthly utility bills.
Why are Smart Meters so controversial? • Invasion of privacy – our Fourth Amendment rights are being violated. • Health – electro-sensitive people become sick almost immediately. • Health – entire population at risk long term for cancer and neurological illness. • Canary in Mine???
Why controversial – cont. • Damage to household appliances – reports of refrigerators burning out, expensive high end stereo equipment being destroyed. • Making entire electrical grid as vulnerable to hackers and terrorists as the internet already is. • Risk of house fires.
Pattern of Smart Meter Emission Note that radiation is only slightly less out the back side of meter into home or business.
Smart Grid Traits • The meters communicate with the utility using wireless radio frequency radiation (RFR) • They use pulsed waves (as much as 2 times per second), not continuous waves. • Each brief transmission reaches high intensity peaks. • The peaks are usually averaged over 30 minutes, hiding the peak energy levels.
Peak Pulse Intensity vs Avg Exposure • 50 millisecond long pulse can have 1 watt peak pulse intensity but the average power level is in the micro-watt range. • It is the average power that would cause heating of tissue, but it is the peak intensity that causes biological effects!
Why it is (falsely) claimed to be safe • Meets FCC guidelines • Said to be less exposure than from a cellphone or other common devices • Only transmitting 1% to 2% of time
FCC Guidelines • To protect a 6 ft 200 lb male from thermal effect (heating of tissue) • Emissions averaged over 30 min. • Protection from one device only, (not from cumulative exposure to many devices) • Protection from a single acute exposure (not 24/7 exposure)
FCC Guideline – No protection from: • Non thermal biologic effects • Pulsed signal vs continuous wave • The peak energy level of pulses • Cumulative exposure from all sources.
FCC guideline – No provisions for: • Children • Elderly • Pregnant women • A nightime recovery period
Cell phone vs. Smart Meter • Same or similar RF frequency • Utilities say smart meter radiation is much less than cell phones • Daniel Hirsch, nuclear physicist, says, with apples to apples comparison, smart meter emits 100 times more than cell phone
World Health Organization • WHO in May 2012 issued a report classifying the radiation from cell phones and smart meters as a possible carcinogen • WHO in 2001 had issued a report classifying Extra Low Frequencies as a possible carcinogen
Effect of Pulsed Microwaves • Breach the protective blood/brain barrier • Effect neuro transmitters • Effect testosterone levels • Can decrease sperm production • Effect natural rhythym of brain • Can effect heart rate and heart rate variability
Links to original reports: • michiganstopsmartmeters.com • stopsmartmeters.org
Recap Part 2 – Radio Frequency • FCC regulations do NOT protect against all effects • Low radio frequencies can interfere with cell communication • Resident’s exposure is much higher than admitted • RFR is a ‘toxic accumulant’, i.e. effects of exposure build up over time • Wireless microwave is NOT acceptable for the smart grid
Power Quality or“Dirty Electricity” The green line is a pure 60 cycle current on your house wiring. The jagged red lines represent high frequency pulses.
Most Common Complaints From “Dirty Electricity” Cognitive Functions – concentration, memory, behavior, etc. Other Studies – sleep disruption, headache, depression, discomfort, irritability, nausea, visual disorders, cardiovascular problems, respiratory problems, nervousness, agitation. All these are related to electrical changes in the brain.
What Causes “Dirty Electricity”? A device called a “switched mode power supply” is primary culprit. All “smart meters” and “digital” electronic meters contain this type of power supply. The type of power supply that does not cause “dirty electricity” is too expensive, too bulky and too heavy for use in a meter.
Part 3 –Threat to Privacy How ‘smart’ meters threaten both our privacy and our freedom to lead our lives as we choose.
Why is Privacy Important? • The freedom to lead our lives depends on our being able to establish areas of our lives that are not monitored and controlled by others. • If our employer can pry into all our daily living habits, it may turn out that we have to conform to the employer’s dictates in order to hold on to our jobs.
If an insurance company can pry into all our daily living habits, it may turn out that we are denied insurance unless we live according to its dictates. • If our government can pry into all our daily living habits, it may turn out that every aspect of our personal lives can be regulated and controlled.
Privacy Assault – Phase One • The installation of a ‘smart’ electric, gas or water meter on your home • All 3 types of meters reveal information about your private life. • The electric ‘smart meter’ reveals the most and is also a kind of ‘gateway drug’, leading to still further intrusion when you are forced to buy ‘smart appliances’.
Data Revealed - ‘Smart’ Meter Alone • Once a ‘smart’ electrical meter is installed on your home, even before there are any smart appliances in the home, much information about your daily activities will be revealed to the utility company – and to anyone who can buy (or hack into) the data the meter generates.
Each Appliance Has Unique ‘Signature’ • Amount of current draw • Duration of current draw • Startup or ‘inrush’ current • Whether current drawn is in step with applied voltage or lags behind (‘power factor’) • Whether there is a regular pattern of on and off cycles.
Utility Can Change Recording Interval • Most utilities now say electric usage will be recorded separately for each hour. These readings will be stored in meter’s memory and may be transmitted less often than hourly. • The ‘smart’ meters are remotely programmable. • The utility can change the recording interval times by remote control at ANY time, with or without notice to homeowner.
Software to Automate Data Extraction • In California, utilities already have permission to sell smart meter data to 3rd party marketing companies. • Software is already on the market that will transform a raw data graph into usable information about lifestyle, habits, kinds of appliances being used, etc. • A battle is already in progress about who controls all this data.
Who Would Want This Information? • Insurance Companies • Employers • Marketing Companies • Police
Privacy Assault – Phase Two • ‘Smart’ appliances will give the utility the power to turn off individual appliances in your home. • The utilities are saying these programs will be ‘voluntary’ (for now anyway) • Soon you will not be able to buy any appliance that is not ‘smart’.
Federal Privacy Guidelines NOT Being Followed The National Institute for Standards & Technology (N.I.S.T.), a federal agency, formed a working group to study and recommend appropriate standards for protecting people’s privacy within a smart grid system. This group issued a report in August 2010.
Key recommendation of N.I.S.T. • “Choice and Consent. An organization should clearly, fully, and accurately describe the choices available to individuals, and to the extent practicable, obtain explicit approval for the collection and use of their personal information. Consumers should have the option to forgo data collection and services that are not related to the core services provided by the organization.”
Recap Part 3 – Privacy Issues • When a utility tells you all they are measuring is your total electric consumption, that is not true • Utilities want to capture the details of your daily life because this is a commodity they can sell • Federal N.I.S.T. recommendations on privacy are not being followed
