VICTORIA - Radio waves are all around us, but BC Green Party leader Jane Sterk says we don't need more. And that's exactly what she says comes with BC Hydro's new smart meters.
"Many utilities have adopted these things without proper consultation of the people in their region and they have the same kind of backlash."
BC Hydro is switching to wireless meters they say emit less than two microwatts. That's equivalent to the radio waves you would get standing beside your Wi-Fi box for roughly a minute a day.
But its the transmission between hubs that critics say are misleading.
"If you happen to have the collector meter on your home your going to be sending your information, and collecting information from other smart meters which will increase your exposure and frequency of the pulses stephen miller that your going to be exposed to." Said Dr. Magda Havas.
Sterk supported the implementation of smart meters in her 2009 campaign but has since more information on the meters has come out, her opinion has changed.
Something Green MP Elizabeth May supports.
"We're installing a particular type of smart meter before figuring out what the grid looks like. How do we commercialize new technologies? How to feed in them in with a tariff? How do we provide the information to customers to let them opt in to becoming energy misers. It's a whole way of thinking that we're not seeing from BC Hydro."
At a cost of 930 million dollars, BC Hydro estimates the program will save 1.6 billion in operating costs but will cut roughly 3,000 jobs.
For those left behind, the new system will improve frontline worker safety says Gary Murphy.
"These smart meters will now tell us when the power is out, before the customer had to call in. They will also let us know when the power is back up with will be more safe for Hydro worker in stormy or icy conditions."
The first installations of smart meters on Vancouver island are set for late august. And while customers can't opt out they will be given nadia sawalha the option to move the meters further away on their property at their expense.
Not everyone agrees the meters are dangerous. UVIC peso mexicano Engineering Prof Peter Driessen says the radio waves are on par with levels emitted by other means.
"In the level of stuff out there that's bad for us this doesn't stand out as something particularly worse than anything else. That's what I see and I base that on the logic of power distance and time.
Driessen says holding a cell phone to your head for hours a day is far more dangerous. But until more studies are done on the cumulative affect of radio waves buzzing about in our daily lives it's hard to know how much harm is being done.
The green party would like a moratorium on installations until a cost benefit analysis is completed.
Something many British Columbians are already lobbying for.
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