What’s all the fuss about PG&E’s “Smart”meters for our electricity and gas? San Bruno Fireball (AP)
PG&E (the Corporation who brought you the 2010 San Bruno neighborhood fireball explosion killing 14 people (including 6 people still missing) and destroying 37 homes) “forgot” to tell us that these “Smart”meters —
1. Create a Fire Danger Threat: Introduce a new Fire-Danger to your home by adding a high power electric On-Off switch which could cause arcing, and is accused of starting fires and giving electric shocks to customers,
3. Interfere with your medical equipment (like heart pacemakers and infant apnea-monitors),
4. are Intended to cost us more in power bills,
6. Don’t give you live (“right-now”) use information as widely believed,
7. Can interfere with phone calls and your computer WiFi,
8. Could put out enough radio wave energy to reasonably cause health concerns – especially when installed near someone’s bed or desk,
9. may be uncertified for California,
10. Avoided all Environmental Impact Analysis
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and the California Public Utilities Commission have received thousands upon thousands of complaints since they started installing “Smart”meters.
See article “Vital Privacy Violations: Can Smartmeters Tell Burglars When You are Away? We need Smart-ER meters”
It also introduces the idea of “Smart-ER meters” that protect your private personal information because they don’t broadcast it (RF or WiFi) or transmit it in any way (optical cable or power line data) to the power company.
At the February 2011 Monterey City Council meeting, Councilman Jeff Haferman asked PG&E “If the customer’s power can be remotely turned off by the meter, could a hacker turn off an entire neighborhood [- or a whole town]?” PG&E claimed they couldn’t answer that. They said they’d get back to him. He’s still waiting.
“Smart”Meter Radiowaves are Not Harmless:
While it is well known that X-rays and Ultraviolet can easily harm humans, it is less well known that radio waves can also harm human tissue in two different ways. Most people are familiar with Microwave ovens that heat food purely using radio waves. Remember one early microwave oven was called the “Radar Range?” That’s called “thermal” effects. Well, there’s a huge body (more than 200 scientific papers) of evidence of non-thermal harm from radio waves.
Now the evidence is mounting that the relatively small amount of radio energy from cell-phones (~ maximum of 1.5 watts) can cause head cancers.
Good Will – or Just Greed
Hmmm . . . is PG&E acting neighborly? or even reasonable?
Or is it just another greedy corporation playing hardball, deliberately acting criminally – taking advantage of the trusting nature of our communities and the good will of Americans ?
PG&E deliberately violated Watsonville’s new law, installed one on an important building, and the city promptly cited them. PG&E arrogantly says it will never pay the fine !
What you can do :
Immediate Action (today):
Put a sign out covering your meter saying
“Do not Install a Smartmeter for this building. You will be personally liable for any harm, including loss of private data, and responsible for the costs of removing it.”
Then take a photo of your sign so you can have evidence in case they ignore your sign and install it anyway.
Short Term Action (weeks):
http://stopsmartmeters.org
And here is a model ordinance that your town can adopt ASAP.
Longer Term Action:
Call your State Assemblyman (Bill Monning for Monterey (649-2832) and Santa Cruz) and the Governor (Jerry Brown) to tell them you want Smartmeters stopped until we can get all the problems truly fixed. Here is an article listing the topics a Smartmeter law needs to cover: https://1hope.org/hopeblog/?p=612
You are invited to make comments to improve this article.
Notes:
Frequently Asked Questions about Cell Phones by Environmental Working Group
IEEE report “Radiofrequency Interference With Medical Devices”
Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Reduce Cell Phone Radiation Exposure
Vital Privacy Loss: Can Smartmeters Tell Burglars When You are Away? We need Smart-ER meters
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Bravo David. An excellent article. I think the smart meter testing and approval issue is very significant and should be closely scrutinized. As usual, thanks for the great work.
Lance
This is what we need to know, thanks.
I had no idea, David. I enjoyed this very much. I wish you would submit a Guest Commentary to the Herald. Perhaps Royal Calkins would print it. He refused mine, since I am not an “expert” on this issue.
Dear Jan,
Thank you for your kind thoughts and suggestions.
I am dismayed to learn the Herald’s Editor “Royal Calkins” censored your Guest Commentary.
Sadly, you are not alone.
Calkins has blacklisted (total censorship of) anything written by me. And I suspect there are many other citizens than just you and me.
Here’s an article about Calkins admitting his anti-community hostility.
Of course he is joined by the Pine Cone’s Paul Miller who has long (and bitterly) advocated for other papers to stop reporting on any of my public interest activities.
Paul Miller just hired Joe Livernois who also hates public interest advocates. Check out Livernois’ astounding admission that he loathes people who speak at public meetings — “Gadflies and Kooks.”
Imagine how frightened of our effectiveness they must be to want us censored.
With my best wishes for your continued successes,
David
Higher Utility Bills with Smart Meters
The Canadian Press Date: Monday Mar. 7, 2011
TORONTO — There’s no doubt the Ontario government’s $1-billion smart meter program for electricity is costing consumers more instead of saving them money.
Read full article: http://swo.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110307/smart-meters-cost-110307/20110307/?hub=SWOHome
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The San Bruno fire was caused by a natural gas pipeline explosion, it has nothing to do with smart meters. Geez what a cheap shot: you state your case subject, then bring up a different subject entirely as your argument! That is a sign of poor logic and I find your entire article as very dubious.
Oh by the way: burglers use easier methods in figuring out when to break in to your home and they have been doing it since the beginning of time. They are not going to waste their time trying to look at your smart meter from a computer – they are going to case your house by actually being there! Believe me, I know. I have had my house broken into 3 times – and I had the old analog meter!
Thank you for your thoughts Gene.
Actually it is a reasonable argument that ‘smart’meters sparked the San Bruno fire.
1. The San Bruno fireball was ignited by some kind of a spark. Natural gas does not ignite on its own.
2. s’mart’meters are known to cause sparks
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