Green

Antarctica afloat

Desert Research Institute researcher Alison Murray was featured in a recent issue of Science magazine, which highlighted her ongoing research in Antarctica. Murray is investigating the impact of climate change on Antarctica, identifying challenges conservationists face in preserving the landscape, including global warming, loss of ice, pollution, tourism and over-fishing. The article also touches on Murray’s concerns about the exploitation of the ecosystem’s natural resources, such as gas, oil and minerals.

Murray is part of an international research team, which recently collaborated at a summit in South Africa. Her expertise lies in microbial ecology, biodiversity and biological oceanography in the Southern Ocean. Murray also heads the U.S. Life Sciences Standing Group team.

Read the article at www.sciencemag.org.

Public parks

Washoe County’s Department of Regional Parks and Open Space is seeking public input for preserving Red Hill, a natural formation overlooking the city of Reno, located near Sun Valley and north of the Truckee Meadows. Options for the landmark include developing trails, outdoor classrooms, native interpretive garden, community art, conservation and restoration, and possible expansion of the land. The Red Hill Master Plan Draft can be viewed at www.washoecountyparks.com. Public forums will be held to discuss the draft on the following dates: July 26, 6 p.m., 5000 Sun Valley Blvd., Sun Valley; Aug. 7, 2:30 p.m., 1001 E. Ninth St. and 6 p.m., 190 E. Liberty St.; and Aug. 14, 10 a.m., 1001 E. Ninth St. For more information, email park planner Jennifer Budge at jbudge@washoecounty.us.

—Ashley Hennefer

ashleyh@newsreview.com

ECO-EVENT

The Sierra Club is raising funds for outdoor programs for kids and will host a family event on July 22. The event will be a potluck, and participants should bring a dish to share and their own beverages. It will also offer live music and entertainment. $10 minimum donation. 5-8 p.m., Galena Creek Park. For more information, call or email David Von Seggern at 3038461 or vonsegl@sbcglobal.net.

Got an eco-event? Contact ashleyh@news review.com. Visit www. facebook.com/ RNRGreen for more.

PHOTO/ASHLEY HENNEFER

Josie Stein is one of several people in the community fighting installation of smart meters.

Grid lines

Smart meters and human health

According to energy experts, like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a smart grid is a step toward implementing more renewable energy sources into by America’s existing infrastructure, and this step includes smart meters—digital

Ashley versions of traditional power meters meant to better track peak energy usage.

Hennefer This data is transmitted back to the power companies, which helps determine ashleyh@ consumer rates for power usage. Smart meters are intended to help people newsreview.com better manage their own power use. But some members of the public are concerned about the health risks of smart meters. It’s been an ongoing issue in California—a group of residents is suing the California Public Utilities Commission for refusing to reopen an investigation of smart meters. Josie Stein is one of several people fighting against smart meters in Washoe County. While Stein lives in Truckee, Calif., her 91-year-old mother lives in Reno. It started in February, Stein says, when her mother began feeling sick and disoriented. “It progressively got worse, so we ran a bunch of tests,” Stein says. “Then my son emailed me asking if my mom had gotten a smart meter installed, so we looked, and she’d had one since February when her symptoms started.” Stein called NVEnergy to have it removed, but the company refused.

This is part of an “Everyone is on a wait list to get these smart meters removed,” says ongoing look at Stein. “We have to wait for the PUC [Public Utilities Commission] to change smart meters and the rules about it.” smart grid technology. For more information The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada has had several public workshops, and its website has a page dedicated to smart meter information. on PUCN’s What Stein is concerned about is the idea of electromagnetic hypersensiworkshops and tivity, an ailment in which a person claims to be sick from radiation emittedstudies on the issue, visit www.pucweb1 by wireless devices.There’s not enough solid research about smart meters health implications, says Indira Chatterjee, associate dean of the University of .state.nv.us/pucn/S Nevada, Reno’s college of engineering, whose research is on the bioeffects of martHome.aspx. electromagnetic fields. “The field of bioeffects of electromagnetic radiation has been very controversial,” says Chatterjee. “Innumerable studies have been done in various laboratories all over the world on the safety aspects of electromagnetic fields and very often these results have been inconclusive. Many studies that showed positive effects have not been reproduced. More research needs to be done.” The radio frequency emitted from a smart meter averages at 900MHz. Mobile phones range from 450 to 2700MHz. Some claim that it’s not the average megahertz that makes people sick, but the pulsing “spikes” in megahertz. However, Chatterjee says that these numbers are just the radio frequency, whereas the concern is with electromagnetic fields, for which there are mixed findings from scientists. There are different ways smart meters communicate with power companies: mesh networking, in which data is transmitted from node to node; power lines, in which data is transmitted along a wire; or modems, which functions like a standard cell phone modem, using analog signals to transmit digital data. Many studies conducted by research organizations around the globe, including the World Health Organization, California Council on Science and Technology, and the Nordic Radiation Safety Authorities, debunk any health risk claims of smart meters—as well as cell phones and wireless hot spots—because smart meters do not emit ionizing radiation, and are designed using heavily standardized equipment. Ω