{"id":4917,"date":"2013-09-04T16:16:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T16:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=4917"},"modified":"2015-12-21T12:45:16","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T18:45:16","slug":"a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/09\/04\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"A Smart Approach To Smart Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/a>A new documentary about smart meters opens on September 5th<\/sup> called Take Back Your Power<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em>The film suggests that smart meters cause illness.\u00a0 According to an August 12 USA Today story<\/strong><\/a>, the film\u2019s director was inspired by a friend who became seriously ill after a smart meter was installed at his home.\u00a0 Naturally, this type of personal experience might shape one\u2019s view on smart meters, but correlation is not causation.<\/p>\n

Electric utilities have installed over 38 million smart meters<\/strong><\/a> across the country and there \u201chas never been a documented injury or health problem associated with such m<\/strong><\/a>eters.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Federal Communication Commission<\/strong><\/a> (FCC), \u201cno scientific evidence establishes a causal link between wireless device use and cancer or other illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart meters send information to utilities by using radio frequencies (RFs) such as those currently used by televisions, radios, baby monitors, cell phones and wifi routers. \u00a0RF signals have permeated our atmosphere for as long as we\u2019ve had televisions and radios.<\/p>\n

We use these devices every day, and many of them create much higher levels of RF exposure than smart meters. \u00a0The exposure level depends on the strength of the RF signal emitted by the device, the duration of the RF signal and\u2014importantly\u2014 the distance from the source. \u00a0Cell phones emit up to several thousand times more RF signals<\/strong><\/a> than smart meters.\u00a0 Smart meters also transmit intermittently and briefly during the day, while we talk on cell phones for long periods.\u00a0 Finally, smart meters are located outside the home, while cell phones are often used close to one\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These factors result in a dramatic difference in RF exposure from smart meters compared to cell phones.\u00a0 So, whether or not future studies find that RFs cause health impacts (because current studies do not; see these reports by: Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory<\/strong><\/a> and Electric Power Research Industry<\/strong><\/a>), smart meters make up a very small part of a person\u2019s daily exposure.<\/p>\n

Smart meters are an integral part of a smarter utility system that makes better use of distributed, clean energy, manages energy demand more intelligently and gives customers \u2013 for the first time ever \u2013 an active role in using, choosing and controlling the energy they need to power their homes and businesses.\u00a0 Smart meters are an important ingredient in designing a clean, less polluting, low-carbon energy system.<\/p>\n

EDF has a long history of working at the intersection where the environment meets human health, and our internal experts have taken a very hard look<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 at the available research on RFs.\u00a0 However, we support utilities taking a proactive consumer-oriented approach<\/strong><\/a> to smart grid installations, including allowing individuals who oppose the installation of smart meters in their homes to be able to opt out.\u00a0 The opt out option not only allows people to control whether or not they receive a smart meter, but it also allows everyone else \u2013 customers and utilities included \u2013 to reap the vast array of economic, environmental and health benefits<\/strong><\/a> from modernizing our antiquated, wasteful and polluting energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Given the significant environmental and health-related benefits that could result from a more efficient, resilient grid by way of more locally-generated clean energy and fewer fossil-fuel power plants, EDF believes that case for smart meters is much stronger than the case against them.\u00a0 The following states investigated the issue in connection with their smart grid deployments and reached the same conclusion: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Wyoming and most recently Texas<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information on this topic, please see the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative\u2019s video Separating the facts from the Fiction about Smart Meters<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new documentary about smart meters opens on September 5th called Take Back Your Power.\u00a0 The film suggests that smart meters cause illness.\u00a0 According to an August 12 USA Today story, the film\u2019s director was inspired by a friend who became seriously ill after a smart meter was installed at his home.\u00a0 Naturally, this type …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12461,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84830],"tags":[84860,717,27597,52990],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grid-modernization","tag-smart-power","tag-smart-grid","tag-smart-meters","tag-utility-business-models"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Smart Approach To Smart Meters - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/09\/04\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Smart Approach To Smart Meters - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new documentary about smart meters opens on September 5th called Take Back Your Power.\u00a0 The film suggests that smart meters cause illness.\u00a0 According to an August 12 USA Today story, the film\u2019s director was inspired by a friend who became seriously ill after a smart meter was installed at his home.\u00a0 Naturally, this type ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/09\/04\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-04T16:16:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-21T18:45:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2013\/07\/John-Finnigan_jpg-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Finnigan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Finnigan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Finnigan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4e06d0ac3c4cbe9f823ba21e6ab8b23\"},\"headline\":\"A Smart Approach To Smart Meters\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-04T16:16:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-21T18:45:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":603,\"commentCount\":25,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/07\\\/John-Finnigan_jpg-199x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Clean Energy\",\"Smart Grid\",\"Smart Meters\",\"Utility Business Models\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Grid Modernization\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-smart-approach-to-smart-meters\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Smart Approach To Smart Meters - 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