Where is the "OFF" switch for masts? The UMTS network causes 2.1 times more CO2 emissions and requires 2.4 times more (non-renewable) primary energy per customer than for the GSM system
Friday, June 24, 2005 3:01 PM
Here is something my son fell over in a Danish newspaper, checked out and mailed to me. It really is worth checking out.
The YES men http://www.theyesmen.org are 2 guys who have made a documentary-film, where they pretend to represent big heartless corporations at industrial-seminars etc.
And they do a: "Identity correction" which they describe as:
"Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.
Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else."
They have invented an advanced joke in "the Acceptable Risk Calculator" which can tell corporations and governments if a project can get to be a "golden skeleton in the closet" based on risici involved, how many they expect will be killed and in which area the project will be launced in.
They use a a model the Bhopal catastrofe, but there are many similarities with the mobile communication industry bullies.
Specially read about their hilarious "Acceptable Risk Calculator" præsentation, during which they were applauded by a flock of corporate "yobs": http://www.dowethics.com/risk/launch.html
They have put the whole issue in a nutshell.
Best regards.
Agnes
http://www.mast-victims.org
--------
Agnes is right here, the WHO, not just WTO, weighs cost and benefit of risk, and decides money "benefits" or how many lives.
I'll add this page too as a good example of how desperate achieving common sense has become:
http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/iceage/index.shtml
Andy
--------
Yes Andy.
And so does Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. They might tell us to turn off our Telly on the wall, not let it run on standby. (So that we can run Birmingham on the saved electricity for a year). But at the same time they force through thousands and thousands of mast installations that are on standby or running 24/7/365 so the power stations spew out a million tons of gases.
You bet I am pleased that I now live on the top of the Malvern Hills, because when they succed in melting down the North and the South pole I´ll still have dry feet.
Who can take their Environmental “For The Good of Mankind” Holier Than Thou crap seriously???
Best regards.
Agnes
http://www.mast-victims.org
--------
OK everyone. Let's see if this masts network can make a dent. How about every one of us sends a message to our own MP with this question. Here's the background, what to say and how:
http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTU1Nzg
extracts:
"Stephen Reilly, a spokesman for the [Government-backed Energy-Saving Trust], said it was 'scary' that half of Britons were not aware household power consumption contributed to climate change. He said appliances left on standby contributed to 50 million tons of unnecessary CO2 emissions from homes each year, putting an average £200 a year on energy bills. He said: 'People don't think about this. This is definitely a contributor to climate change. It's wasted energy.'
"A spokesman for Defra said the department had negotiated a significant cut in the power consumption of television sets while on standby and was working to expand guidelines to cover other appliances.
"Mr Morley urged consumers to ensure they did not waste power. He said: 'The energy we use at home contributes to climate change so saving energy is not just good for people's pockets. It is good for the environment. About half of our target cuts in carbon emissions to combat climate change have to come through energy efficiency ... switching off electrical appliances rather than leaving them on standby makes a huge difference and is a measure we can all take.'
"Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, who obtained yesterday's figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said: 'I am astounded by this. This is absolutely shocking with climate change the biggest threat we face appliances are pumping out millions of tons of greenhouse gases for no good purpose whatsoever. Manufacturers should ensure that appliances should only be put on standby by choice. When things are turned off they should stay off."
Now 3G base stations:
http://www.scientificjournals.com/sj/lca/abstract/doi/lca2004.12.193
"The UMTS network in its state of 2004 according to the 2001 planning and with the accordingly calculated number of customers and data transfer causes 2.1 times more CO2 emissions and requires 2.4 times more (non-renewable) primary energy per customer than for the GSM system in its current state"
What is more, we have it reliably that the power requirements of the combined 3G networks is a serious supply issue, especially so in the current "energy-crisis" context.
Here, then, is the letter [adapt as required]:
Dear [MP]
I was seriously concerned to learn how much energy is being wasted through household appliances not being switched off when not in use. The figures from DEFRA released in the Independent newspaper on 23 June show this amounts to 1 million tonnes of CO2, or enough wasted energy to power 400,000 homes. It would be encouraging to learn that more was being done to make it easier to turn appliances off with a switch that did not just go onto standby, and with reassurance that "settings" would not all be lost in the process. I hope you will lend support to this.
But above all I am very seriously concerned, and for good reason, about the energy demands of the combined new 3G mobile phone national networks being installed.
I understand from industry sources that once installed, these will place a significant additional burden on the national electricity supply, and that running 24 hours a day all year round, the energy and climate burden of this technology is going quite unnoticed. Furthermore, industry calculations are that the whole system requires 2.4 times the non-renewable energy per customer than the existing GSM network. Please do your utmost to confirm the figure for 50,000 always-on base stations, so that it can be rightfully compared to the DEFRA figures above, about which it, seems, we all want to do something practical.
The reason I raise this point is that everyone is painfully aware of the controversy surrounding the latest round of mast erections, of the increasing numbers of people obliged to live near them, increasing numbers who complain of adverse effects, or of property devaluation, of the absurd absence of any democracy in their siting, the irrelevance of safety guidelines and the dearth of base-station research. And now we find that there is much concern over wasted energy in the home, while all possible good is being more than undone by this money driven product promotion. This government must be challenged over selling the 3G licences for £23 billion, then obliging the operators each and all to cover the entire country, causing universal controversy and now over taking no consideration to the environmental impact.
I hope you will be so moved to ask questions in the House, not just in relation to telecommunications planning, but its true and lasting impact on people, housing and the environment - and of course, trust.
yours [etc.]
How? It's really easy.
Fax your MP:
http://www.faxyourmp.com/index.php3
or better still, write:
http://www.writetothem.com/
Go for it. Little effort, big point.
Andy
--------
I have tested the equipment boxes associated with "lamppost masts" using a meter hired from Powerwatch. This measured electrical fields, not an ACOM or COM Monitor. I was surprised to see that they gave out about half the reading that standing under a powerline did (25 for equipment box and around 50 for a powerline going through Rickmansworth). That was radiating onto a pavement near a pedestrian crossing. A child in a buggy would be getting full blast. I think the issue of the electrical power these things use has been an issue ignored by all the organisations who are concerned about energy use. I want to do something about this but have been too busy on other issues. Perhaps we need to raise awareness of this with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Government and so on. The power used for the mobile phones themselves must be a huge drain on power resources. Perhaps those campaigning against windfarms should switch off their mobile phones at the same time.
Best wishes, Yasmin Skelt (Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, England)
Here is something my son fell over in a Danish newspaper, checked out and mailed to me. It really is worth checking out.
The YES men http://www.theyesmen.org are 2 guys who have made a documentary-film, where they pretend to represent big heartless corporations at industrial-seminars etc.
And they do a: "Identity correction" which they describe as:
"Honest people impersonate big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.
Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else."
They have invented an advanced joke in "the Acceptable Risk Calculator" which can tell corporations and governments if a project can get to be a "golden skeleton in the closet" based on risici involved, how many they expect will be killed and in which area the project will be launced in.
They use a a model the Bhopal catastrofe, but there are many similarities with the mobile communication industry bullies.
Specially read about their hilarious "Acceptable Risk Calculator" præsentation, during which they were applauded by a flock of corporate "yobs": http://www.dowethics.com/risk/launch.html
They have put the whole issue in a nutshell.
Best regards.
Agnes
http://www.mast-victims.org
--------
Agnes is right here, the WHO, not just WTO, weighs cost and benefit of risk, and decides money "benefits" or how many lives.
I'll add this page too as a good example of how desperate achieving common sense has become:
http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/iceage/index.shtml
Andy
--------
Yes Andy.
And so does Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. They might tell us to turn off our Telly on the wall, not let it run on standby. (So that we can run Birmingham on the saved electricity for a year). But at the same time they force through thousands and thousands of mast installations that are on standby or running 24/7/365 so the power stations spew out a million tons of gases.
You bet I am pleased that I now live on the top of the Malvern Hills, because when they succed in melting down the North and the South pole I´ll still have dry feet.
Who can take their Environmental “For The Good of Mankind” Holier Than Thou crap seriously???
Best regards.
Agnes
http://www.mast-victims.org
--------
OK everyone. Let's see if this masts network can make a dent. How about every one of us sends a message to our own MP with this question. Here's the background, what to say and how:
http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTU1Nzg
extracts:
"Stephen Reilly, a spokesman for the [Government-backed Energy-Saving Trust], said it was 'scary' that half of Britons were not aware household power consumption contributed to climate change. He said appliances left on standby contributed to 50 million tons of unnecessary CO2 emissions from homes each year, putting an average £200 a year on energy bills. He said: 'People don't think about this. This is definitely a contributor to climate change. It's wasted energy.'
"A spokesman for Defra said the department had negotiated a significant cut in the power consumption of television sets while on standby and was working to expand guidelines to cover other appliances.
"Mr Morley urged consumers to ensure they did not waste power. He said: 'The energy we use at home contributes to climate change so saving energy is not just good for people's pockets. It is good for the environment. About half of our target cuts in carbon emissions to combat climate change have to come through energy efficiency ... switching off electrical appliances rather than leaving them on standby makes a huge difference and is a measure we can all take.'
"Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, who obtained yesterday's figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said: 'I am astounded by this. This is absolutely shocking with climate change the biggest threat we face appliances are pumping out millions of tons of greenhouse gases for no good purpose whatsoever. Manufacturers should ensure that appliances should only be put on standby by choice. When things are turned off they should stay off."
Now 3G base stations:
http://www.scientificjournals.com/sj/lca/abstract/doi/lca2004.12.193
"The UMTS network in its state of 2004 according to the 2001 planning and with the accordingly calculated number of customers and data transfer causes 2.1 times more CO2 emissions and requires 2.4 times more (non-renewable) primary energy per customer than for the GSM system in its current state"
What is more, we have it reliably that the power requirements of the combined 3G networks is a serious supply issue, especially so in the current "energy-crisis" context.
Here, then, is the letter [adapt as required]:
Dear [MP]
I was seriously concerned to learn how much energy is being wasted through household appliances not being switched off when not in use. The figures from DEFRA released in the Independent newspaper on 23 June show this amounts to 1 million tonnes of CO2, or enough wasted energy to power 400,000 homes. It would be encouraging to learn that more was being done to make it easier to turn appliances off with a switch that did not just go onto standby, and with reassurance that "settings" would not all be lost in the process. I hope you will lend support to this.
But above all I am very seriously concerned, and for good reason, about the energy demands of the combined new 3G mobile phone national networks being installed.
I understand from industry sources that once installed, these will place a significant additional burden on the national electricity supply, and that running 24 hours a day all year round, the energy and climate burden of this technology is going quite unnoticed. Furthermore, industry calculations are that the whole system requires 2.4 times the non-renewable energy per customer than the existing GSM network. Please do your utmost to confirm the figure for 50,000 always-on base stations, so that it can be rightfully compared to the DEFRA figures above, about which it, seems, we all want to do something practical.
The reason I raise this point is that everyone is painfully aware of the controversy surrounding the latest round of mast erections, of the increasing numbers of people obliged to live near them, increasing numbers who complain of adverse effects, or of property devaluation, of the absurd absence of any democracy in their siting, the irrelevance of safety guidelines and the dearth of base-station research. And now we find that there is much concern over wasted energy in the home, while all possible good is being more than undone by this money driven product promotion. This government must be challenged over selling the 3G licences for £23 billion, then obliging the operators each and all to cover the entire country, causing universal controversy and now over taking no consideration to the environmental impact.
I hope you will be so moved to ask questions in the House, not just in relation to telecommunications planning, but its true and lasting impact on people, housing and the environment - and of course, trust.
yours [etc.]
How? It's really easy.
Fax your MP:
http://www.faxyourmp.com/index.php3
or better still, write:
http://www.writetothem.com/
Go for it. Little effort, big point.
Andy
--------
I have tested the equipment boxes associated with "lamppost masts" using a meter hired from Powerwatch. This measured electrical fields, not an ACOM or COM Monitor. I was surprised to see that they gave out about half the reading that standing under a powerline did (25 for equipment box and around 50 for a powerline going through Rickmansworth). That was radiating onto a pavement near a pedestrian crossing. A child in a buggy would be getting full blast. I think the issue of the electrical power these things use has been an issue ignored by all the organisations who are concerned about energy use. I want to do something about this but have been too busy on other issues. Perhaps we need to raise awareness of this with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Government and so on. The power used for the mobile phones themselves must be a huge drain on power resources. Perhaps those campaigning against windfarms should switch off their mobile phones at the same time.
Best wishes, Yasmin Skelt (Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, England)
Starmail - 26. Jun, 14:49
