For example, Pepco Holdings, Inc., a SGCC member utility, has a Smart Grid provider, Silver Spring Networks who uses 900 megahertz (MHz) and 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) radios in its smart grid hardware devices – the same FCC-approved frequencies that have been used for many years in devices such as baby monitors, cell phones, remote-controlled toys and medical monitors. Silver Spring's RF emissions are compliant with the levels required by strict federal regulations and permitted by various international recommendations.
SGCC put together a fact sheet on radio frequency and health issues that you can see here.
For more detailed reports on health issues:
- This report from the California Council on Science and Technology had findings such as, "Wireless smart meters, when installed and properly maintained, result in much smaller levels of radio frequency(RF) exposure than many existing common household electronic devices, particularly cell phones and microwave ovens."
- This report from the Electric Power Research Institute provides results from measurements of RF emissions from one specific type of smart meter. These tests were conducted as an initial step in responding to questions from the public concerning RF exposure levels from wireless smart meters.
If you are interested in more technical reports, please take a look at these two additional reports from EPRI:
- Characterization of Radio Frequency Emissions From Two Models of Wireless Smart Meters
- An Investigation of Radio Frequency Fields Associated with the Itron Smart Meter
Posted in: Smart Grid Facts