Just Say No to Big Brother’s Smart Meters by Orlean Koehle
Study Finds Many Consumers Skeptical About Remote Home Appliance Management: According to a study, consumers are unwilling to allow electricity providers to remotely limit the use of their home appliances without significant rate discounts. U.S. Government to Provide $100 Million for Smart Grid Workforce Training: The DOE will provide $100 million toward smart grid workforce training programs. AHAM and CES Join Forces to Showcase Smart Appliances at CES 2011: The Connected Home Appliances TechZone, co-sponsored by CEA and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) will have 10,000 square feet of exhibit space for manufacturers of next-generation appliances. Whirlpool to Produce One Million Smart Grid Clothes Dryers by End of 2011: Whirlpool Corp., Benton Harbor, Mich., has announced that it will produce one million Smart Energy clothes dryers by the end of 2011, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Smart Grid Investment Grant program.
Sandi Mauer adds, “Why should we be concerned with the RF inside all of the above mentioned appliances? We should be very concerned with the health effects from radiation; increased utility costs; required appliance change outs; invasion of privacy; remote shut downs; and uninsurable consequences.
“We have managed to get along for many years with the standard meter, so why not
delay for a few years until comprehensive studies are performed by independent parties, and all health, privacy, and financial concerns are satisfactorily answered? We live in an environment saturated with various electromagnetic radiations and toxins, which may synergistically produce harmful effects. Little data on the long-term effects of this radiation is available and we, as private families, do not readily have access to the equipment necessary to identify and quantitate this radiation. Once Smart Meters are installed it is reportedly very difficult to get PG&E to remove
them. Also, the blowing up of San Bruno by PG&E does not instill confidence in the ability of that huge corporation to protect the safety of its customers, or perhaps even to be sufficiently concerned with safety. The enormous Smart Meter instillation program may have drained resources that should have been directed at evaluating safety.”
“Power vs. Privacy - Smart grid could turn appliances into spies, experts warn” by Paul Gallant (Last Updated: Friday, February 19, 2010, special to CBC News)
Do you want your fridge talking about you behind your back? With the rapid adoption of a North American "smart grid" aimed at helping consumers conserve electricity, it's also possible that smart appliances will be able to transmit information about their activities (and yours) through the power lines. Your electricity utility may not yet be able to determine when you snack, do laundry or shower, but privacy advocates are sounding the alarm that systems need to be put in place to guard details about a household's electricity usage from prying eyes. A paper released last November by the Office of the Information and Privacy
Commissioner of Ontario and the U.S.-based Future of Privacy Forum proposes building privacy controls right into the smart grid before the system is fully rolled out.
'The Smart Grid will enable third parties to peer into your home. You can imagine how tempting the marketing opportunities will be. — Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian (Dr Ann Cavoukian is the information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada.)
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