If you are the City Council wants to put your mind at ease. The Council, and residents in attendance, touched on issues from a smart grid bill of rights to concerns about radiation from the meters.
What are your thoughts?
Columnist Bill Mego has weighed in on the radiation issue.
BPL is not a road you want to go down. It has been demonstrated that BPL generates interference to radio transmissions. Our first responders already have enough problems with the new interoperable radio system.
http://www.arrl.org/broadband-over-powerline-bpl
My biggest concern is cost. I suspect our electric bills will really shoot upward. For instance if we are paying a flat rate of say 8 cents per kilowatt hour now regardless of the time of day it is pretty easy to know what your bill will be like. With smart meters I have yet to see a rate schedule. I suspect the lowest rate will be higher than our current rate. So let's say now from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM the rate will be 10 cents per kilowatt hour and from 6:01 AM to 11:00AM it will be 14 cents per kilowatt hour, and finally from 11:00 AM to 7:59 PM it will be 18 cents per kilowatt hour, it will impossible to lower your electric bill. Until we see a current rate sheet, along with the new proposed rate sheet, we don't have a clue what we will save. I suspect since we are coming off a low contract, rates across the board are going to go way up and we will be paying a LOT more for electricty regardless of how smart the meters are.
Interesting that no one has mention there is no need to use wireless technology for SmartGrid to operate.
The existing Naperville Electric Department distribution system could be used to both transmit electricity to homes and businesses and at the same time serve as a Power Line Digital Subscriber Line (PDSL) or a Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) to carry the very same data over hard wire that is being proposed to be sent wirelessly.
Did you see the latest city council meeting. Check out citycouncilwatchdog.com.
Garage door openers - are you kidding. Fieseler has missed the point. Its not about one device emitting more EMR than the other. Its about adding additional EMR on what scientists are saying is an already saturated environment. Perhaps we should consider removing one wireless technology in order to make room to add the wireless technology from smart meters. How about removing wireless from the schools, city buildings and residents homes and then assessing if we are in the safe limits to be able to add wireless smart meters. Choices have to be made all the time. Scientists say the level of existing EMR is breaking the DNA chain. So why would we choose to add another layer when we can choose a safe solution that allows us to collect the same data? The Seletun scientists state they do not recommend wireless technology in smart grid applications. These are the top scientists in the world. If we are not going to listen to them, then who do we listen to? In light of this study, why are we even considering a wireless solution anymore? The council needs to stop wasting time and money on the original wireless solution and start putting a plan in place for hard wired meters. The burden of proof for safety doesn't fall to the citizens. It shouldn't even fall to the council anymore. Listen to the scientists. Follow their advice - just like you would follow your docs advice if he/she told you you were going to have a heart attack if you don't change your lifestyle. Just like you expect your kids to follow your advice about how to behave and what to do in certain situations. These scientists have more experience and far more knowledge than anyone else in the world. They are not funded by the industry. They are speaking out about a global public health issue- far bigger the Naperville.
Yeah,
And the Naperville Sun continues to be part of the sales and marketing arm of the Naperville City administration. In case anyone missed it there was yet another article in the Sunday Naperville Sun by Mark Curran blowing more smoke up our keester about the Smart Grid.
As a bit of a side note... it is kind of appalling that the Naperville Sun gives several City of Naperville department heads free advertising and marketing space in the paper even if it is disguised as viewpoint/opinion. Since the city of Naperville stands to collect an enormous amount of long term revenue through the SmartGrid I for one think the Naperville Sun should be charging the City of Naperville the going rate for commercial advertisements.
What is really telling is the Chicago Tribune reported in the Sunday edition that the CEO of Exxelon is on record of saying that the SmartGrid is not a good deal, that the cost too consumers is too high, that there isn't much payback to consumers, and the whole concept pretty much can't fly without government subsidies. Well, government subsidies really means American taxpayers and it is our money going from one pocket to another. He even said given a choice between installing new cable (old cable wastes a lot of electricity) and installing SmartGrid that he would opt for installing new cable. That speaks enormous volumes about how much is currently being wasted in old cable vs how much can actually be saved with SmartGrid.
No matter how much Naperville Electric and Naperville city council would like us to believe what they are trying to sell there is no free ride with the SmartGrid. It is going to cost us to install it. It is going to cost us a lot to operate and maintain the SmartGrid that they haven't even begun to tell us about yet. It is going to cost even more to replace it because it won't last forever. And it will likely be many years before any of the appliance manufacturers start making devices that can take advantage of the technology, it will be decades before a lot of current appliances reach the end of their life cycle, and by then a lot of these now new smart meters will already need to be replaced. This is one of the dangers of being the first to adopt new, untried, untested technology. Plus the big unknown to the consumer despite all of this is how soon the Naperville Electric Department will start changing from a flat rate system for electricity to a system based upon time of day and day of week?
Now why hasn't the Naperville Sun or the Chicago Sun Times done any honest or fair reporting on the opposing view to SmartGrid? There are knowledgeable experts out there. Why are we only being told one side of the story? Why the hard sell to ram SmartGrid down the throats of Naperville residents at all cost and whether we want it or not?
There are dozens of reasons to worry about the smart meters. The BIGGEST reason though is that your City Council has lied to you all through this process. I heard that at the last council meeting, one if not more than one member said that they were going to slow down and take a close look at this project - they said that this was not yet a done deal. REALLY????? They are moving full speed ahead even as we speak - if they truly did slow down and take a serious look at what they were doing - they would stand to lose the $11,000,000 in Federal Grant money that they have committed to already!
This project is on a tight deadline, and any slowdown would put those matching funds in jeopardy, so they may want us all to believe that they are sensitive to our needs - but if that were true, they would have ASKED for public input before they make a multi-million dollar investment. They have already put millions of dollars into this - don't believe for a minute that they are going to step back and walk away. This is all about re-election - after April you can expect them to say they looked at it and they still think they are brilliant and anyone who opposes this project just isn't as smart as they are.
If you want say over projects like this in the future, vote the bully pulpit out.
Anyone catch Mego's most recent attack on the TEA party today?
I swear, he is so cloying that one suspectes he is a jilted lover of the TEAs!
Anon,
You wrote: "An X-Ray created by a star is the SAME as an X-Ray created in a machine. The only difference is the energy level and duration."
Really? When was the last time anyone actually visited a star to prove that hypothesis?
YES, there are differences between natural and man-made but the differences are not limited to only level and duration.
For anyone interested in how sound (ie fixed) the science is on these meters and other devic es like them, look up the work done recently by Dr. Nora Volkow of the NIH.
Her work, recently published, shows that electromagnetic radiation DOES measurably affect brain activity. She does NOT publish if it is good or bad, only that it DOES cause change.
Now, if only Mego and the other alleged brainiacs who so blindly believe there is no question of there being no danger.................
Original Joe, you are 100% correct. This is going to really stink and Fiessler(sp) was the left wing nut Democrat behind this.
Once they know your usage patterns, they will re-price their product (actually, it's YOUR product as a taxpayer, but they don't want you to understand that) to screw you for every last dime you have and milk the rate structure to perfectly align up with the time you HAVE to use electricity and all of the voluntary switching to night time use in the world (you really stay up to push through 3-8 loads of laundry after midnight and wash 2 loads of dishes?) will not decrease your bill because they will have the data to nail you where you can't move anything of significance to decrease your bill and as a result, your bill will go up. If you think otherwise, you are a sheepish fool.
Liberty Watchman,
Do you have a cell phone? How about medical records? The government can see more about you thru your cell phone usage, medicail records and let's not forget about your credit cards too!
Oh good grief, here come the black helicopter, conspiracy nuts again. There is NO difference between man made electromagnetic radiation vs. naturally occurring. An X-Ray created by a star is the SAME as an X-Ray created in a machine. The only difference is the energy level and duration. Everyone, ignore the black helicopter nut jobs.
The distressing thing is how few posts are in this forum. Not because the smart meters pose any significant health risk -- they don't -- but because the smart meters will control our lives in ways hardly anyone realizes.
I've blogged about these concerns at libertywatchman.com
It is so nice to read that Mego is so sure about the safety of the smart meters.
After all, he IS a scientist, so he MUST know, right? I mean, come on, the smart meters have been deemed safe by 'da goberment!
So, all those people at Amoco who worked in a particular building and got cancer ---- since 'da goberment deemd it safe, they must all be faking their cancer, right Bill?
You are a scientist, and since the scientists found nothing wrong, using your logic (and your article's tone and inference) they MUST be faking, right?
Also, let's talk about those wind turbines. There are a lotta people around them who have gotten sick (something based around high pitched sounds, lack of sleep, cycles gone awry, etc). Again, using YOUR wondeful logic, they MUST be faking too, right?
Bill Mego------- quit being so freaking condescending to your fellow citizens for once!
Forget your bias that you know it all, that only Bill Mego the scientist knows the true answer. Forgot your high bais toward anything and anyone you deem as having a different political slant than your own.
Bill, in short if you are so $%$&*^% smart as a scientist, how come your mind is so ^&*^(^(&^ closed?
Anonymous,
You wrote: "If you think the radiation from the meters is going to harm you then you better dump your cell phones. You do realize radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum? You know like visible light! These aren't gamma or x-rays, which are extremely short, high energy waves. Some of you people need to study some physics before you speak."
Interesting that there are a lot of physicists who actually are studying this issue in depth through professional research and they disagree with you. Also interesting are the findings of a variety of studies which have failed to conclude that many electronic devices are as safe as our city council has proclaimed nor as safe as the manufacturers who make these devices would also like us to believe. This isn't much different from the tobacco companies who wanted us to believe cigarettes were perfectly safe for us 40-50 years ago. Industry in general has a well documented history of hiding their dirty little secrets about the safety of their products. Public health vs. profits... profit wins every time. The only thing standing between companies producing unsafe products are lawsuits and government regulation. Sadly, voluntary self regulation has had more failures than successes and as long as we let corporations value money more than people nothing much will change.
I don't have a crystal ball so I'm not going to speculate in terms of what current and future research will be able to determine on the long term health effects of all of the man-made electromagnetic energy we are surrounding ourselves with. And make no mistake there is a difference between naturally occurring electromagnetic energy and that which is man made. But then you are an expert in physics and already knew that!
The smart meters will go a long way towards regulating the environmentally unsound carbon emitting units.
Non academic elite humans, exhaling too much carbon has been a problem for far too long. In addition, the non elite carbon emitting units, cause secondary carbon emissions by making little carbon emitter units, growing their food, cooking their food, driving them to school, heating their homes and schools, purchasing products that require carbon emissions to manufacture and transport.
Once we have these monitoring and control devices in place we will be able to monitor in real time the activities of the carbon emitters and through financial nudges in the form of higher bills (fines) for non compliance we will be able to coerce compliance by forcing them to choose between buying food or allowing us to turn their thermostat down to 60 in the winter and up to 80 in the summer.
Thermostat regulations will be written and enforced by the EPA under the supervision of the shadow government czar so the elected officials in DC and those who voted for them can be completely left out of the law making and enforcement.
Stooges like the Naperville City Council, for the small bribe of subsidized meters, will install the enabling technology so the we can finally rid the planet of excess humans by cutting off their resources so the elite can live in the sustainable life style that they are entitled to.
Since the City Council has no real metrics for measuring or even defining success for the monitoring and control network, they can't fail. There will be plenty of money in the way of contracts and jobs to go around. Something politicians like.
We should ask for hand check when they are discussing and voting on programs like this.
Clearly you can't be wathcing this City Council if you haven't figured out that they are the smartest people on the planet. They have zero experience in this area, but that doesn't stop them from claiming expertise. Vote them out.
I don't have a concern about radiation either. I'm far more concerned about how smart meters will affect pricing. Charging more for usage during peak periods sounds like a good idea in theory, except that it assumes that a lot of our electricity usage is voluntary, and can easily be reduced or shifted to other times of day. Are people who are home during the day in the summer (families with children; seniors; people who work from home) supposed to sweat it out rather than turn on their air conditioners? Disincentivizing people not to use electricity when they most need it doesn't sound very smart to me.
If you think the radiation from the meters is going to harm you then you better dump your cell phones. You do realize radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum? You know like visible light! These aren't gamma or x-rays, which are extremely short, high energy waves. Some of you people need to study some physics before you speak.
I do however, believe our electric bills will go up significantly after the installation of these meters.
Oh, and yes, your bills are going to skyrocket! The City will say it isn't from the Smart Meters, and that will be half true - it will only partially be due to the poor decision made to install the Smart Grid now instead of over the course of the next several years as originally budgeted (without consideration as to whether the residents wanted it or not). The other reason it will skyrocket is the other disasterous decision this management team made to invest in the IMEA coal plant in downstate Illinois. Given the massive budget overruns on that plant, AND the ego driven decision to install the smart grid at a much higher cost than originally budeted, we will all being paying electric bills that are 10, 20, or even 30 percent higher in the very near future. Make sure to put a thank you to Mr. Krieger and his yes men, as well as your City Council on your massive Utility checks (water will be jumping too). Maybe some of those who are getting rich off these decisions will help those of us who pay the bills make ends meet.
It was interesting to read the number of elected and appointed officials who, without qualification, declared smart meters to be totally safe.
If any of them were just a bit smarter and wiseer what they would have said was something along the lines of... "to the best of my knowledge current research has not found any known health risks associated with use of this product."
The old saying is never say never, because once you do it is pretty hard to take it back down the road. I'm not saying any health risks will ever be associated with this product, only that if some health risks are eventually associated with use of this product our local government will be in the unenviable position of having officially lied to or at least misled the residents about the safety of this product in their eagerness to "sell" this product and stuff it down our throats despite fears, concerns, and objections.
Do I believe the smart meters and radiation are going to be a huge problem, no - I believe there may be some sensitivity out there, but I don't believe it is going to be a huge life altering issue.
That said however - there are residents out there who are quite concerned - and the City Council did what it always does about it. They let the residents talk, they pretend to care what they have to say, then they just go ahead and do what they want regardless. Watch a few meetings - listen to the Citizen comments - then take a look and see what actions the Council took as a result. I expect you will find that whether one person had a concern, or 30 people had a concern - the result is always the same - this council does exactly what it pleases regardless.
This is by far the bigger danger to everyone in Naperville! The biggest issue is that no matter how we as residents feel, this Council will go right ahead and do as they please anyway. That is very very scary!!!
I expect our electric bills to rise dramatically. Not looking forward to this, think it will be a disaster.