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Smart meters and The Smart Grid
Pandora:
This information was collected and posted by a guest blogger at Gateway Pundit; there is more there.
--- Quote ---The Smart Grid is being sold as a modernization of the power grid which includes a distribution system that will contain a two way communication between your home and the utility company. This communication system will allow 'Demand Response Appliances' (the creation of which is being spearheaded by GE) the ability to 'talk' to the utility company and inform them of it's energy use, time of operation and function. Demand Response Appliances also allow the Utility company the ability to shut them off during times of Peak Energy use in order to cut down on the demand of the power grid, thereby reducing the need for rolling blackouts.
The Energy Industry, and the Obama administration, claim that the Smart Grid will allow the utility company the ability to provide you, the consumer, with detailed information about the energy use of everything in your home and in turn will save you money on your energy bill by helping you adjust your energy use. Not to mention help lower carbon emissions.
How detailed that collected information will be has been a hot button issue for privacy advocates and what information will actually be collected has not exactly been known, until now.
The North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), with the cooperation of the Environmental Protection Agency, has completed Priority Action Plan 10 (PAP-10) or as it is officially titled the NAESB Energy Usage Information Model. PAP-10 details the standards for the type of information that will be collected through the Smart Grid.
The membership of NAESB is comprised of over 300 energy creators and distributors from across the United States including the Ameren Corporation, Laclede Gas and Honeywell just to name a few. According to NAESB's website the organization:
"serves as an industry forum for the development and promotion of standards which will lead to a seamless marketplace for wholesale and retail natural gas and electricity, as recognized by its customers, business community, participants, and regulatory entities.
According to the document, the standards set forth in the NAESB Energy Usage Information Model (PAP-10) for the collection of information "forms the basis of the required Business Practice Standard."
Here is a list of SOME of the information that is to be collected through the Smart Grid as apart of that "Required Business Standard":
CO2 created by your Energy Use- Environmentalists see the Smart Grid as a tool they can use to curb carbon emissions and save the planet from 'Global Warming'. The information collected through the Smart Grid would help the Federal Government place a restriction on the amount of CO2 created by an individual house hold especially after a cap and trade type law is in place. While this may seem like an 'unrealistic' concept, there is no other viable explanation for the collection of your house hold CO2 production.
Electricity, Gas Use and Current Rates- The Smart Grid will allow the utility company to adjust the price of electricity, and possibly gas, by the minute based upon Peak Demand, this is referred to as 'Real Time' or 'Dynamic' Pricing.
For example, electricity will be more expensive to use at 3 P.M. during a hot summer day than it will be to use at 3 A.M. The Smart Grid will allow you the ability to program your Demand Response Appliances to run at 'Off Peak' times in order to help you save money.
The irony of this concept is if everyone begins to run their Demand Response Appliances at a certain 'Off Peak' time, say 3 A.M., then that 'Off Peak' time has the potential of becoming a new 'Peak Use' time and therefore may not save you very much money. Besides that, who is going to stay up to do laundry at 3 A.M.?
Water, Heat and Cold Use including Hot Water, Steam, Chilled Water and Ice- By tracking not only your water use, but how much energy you use to create hot water, chilled water and ice, the Smart Grid becomes the ultimate 'Green Police State' tool. That is because it will have the ability to track your hot water use, possibly even the length of your hot showers, how much chilled water you are drinking through your dispenser in your fridge and even track how many times your Ice Maker is refilled with water.
Imagine a future where the Government says that you can only take 3 minute hot showers or create only so much ice in order to help cut down on carbon emissions. The Smart Grid gives them the ability to not only monitor that information but through Demand Response Appliances they will also have the power to shut off your water heater or ice maker once you have reached your allowed usage. Again crazy as it sounds, what other possible reason do they have for collecting such information as Hot Water and Ice Cube Useage?
Refuse (trash) and Sewerage Use- The only reason I can come up with for collecting information on your refuse is that in the future the Government might possibly make recycling mandatory. Someday you may see 'Trash Police' digging through your garbage to make sure your recycling properly or be fined.
TV Licence Use- TV Licence does not currently exist here in the United States. But in the United Kingdom citizens are forced to pay a 'fee' for a Licence in order to watch or record television shows on their TV or over the Internet. Hard to believe I know but this is a statement taken from the British Licensing Authority website in 2003:
"Using a television without an appropriate licence is a criminal offence. Every day we catch an average of 1,200 people using a TV without a licence. There is no valid excuse for using a television and not having a TV Licence, but some people still try - sometimes with the most ridiculous stories ever heard. Our detection equipment will track down your TV. The fact that our enquiry officers are now so well equipped with the latest technology means that there is virtually no way to avoid detection."
-- from the official website of the British Television Licensing Authority, May 2003"
I assume that someone in the Progressive movement is planning on passing such a law here in the U.S., otherwise why would this be included in the type of information collected? Again, there is no other reason for the collection of this information other than Big Brother and Big Business keeping track of your TV habits.
Internet Use- Yes you knew it was coming... The Smart Grid will have the ability to track your Internet use. Why? Well by the time you reached number 6 on the list of things they are going to track I figured you would know the answer by now. The Government through the Energy Sector (Or maybe the future seizure by the Government of the Smart Grid) and the Smart Grid, are going to record and control every aspect of your life. The Internet has been an annoyance for those in power because of Grass Roots groups, like the Tea Party, have effectively used it to expose corruption and lies. Again, what other reason can you possibly think of for them to track your Internet use other than control?
Now during my research I discovered a document that lists the comments made by member organizations in NASEB while they drafted PAP-10. Here it is:
--- End quote ---
Link.
Not all of the membership is on board with the collection of this much private information, but the EPA sure is.
charlesoakwood:
Charging highest rates during the time of highest need
in order to control usage is part of that picking winners
type of thing. If they are the winner we must be...
Libertas:
Just reqaffirms my resolve to refuse this BS in my home! My ongoing meter-war with the city over a smart water meter has entered a dormant phase...they haven't bothered trying to contact me for some time...makes me suspicious what these no good neerdowell's are up to?!
After reading this all it is missing is a tie-in to Agenda 21!
And comments like this "I don't understand why?" make my head explode! Don't be a pussy, you know "why"?! CONTROL!!!
::gaah::
Anyway, to hell with 'em all!!!
::mooning::
::rockets::
Pandora:
A couple/few months ago, a vid was posted somewhere here on the subject of smart meters. The representative of the group disseminating the information advised people who were opposed (as we all should be) that if one allows the meter installation, it's taken as consent to have your information transmitted; iow, one consents to have one's privacy invaded. Their website has a form letter to send to the power company whereby one withholds consent.
The letter may not stop it, but, for legal purposes, your opposition is on the record.
AlanS:
--- Quote from: Pandora on December 21, 2011, 08:06:52 AM ---The letter may not stop it, but, for legal purposes, your opposition is on the record.
--- End quote ---
Well, now. THAT'S a comforting thought.
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