Living by high tension power lines

I read a report that came out a few years ago that, after many, many years of research on this topic, that it was determined that people living in close proximity to high voltage electrical power lines did not exhibit any additional health issues than those that did not live close to these power lines.

 

No, it's a (mostly) static magnetic field that protects us.

Tom

 

houses near power lines are always cheaper. you look at the listing and think, "why is that so cheap?" we passed on them, it's just not worth losing sleep over. someone's living in them though.

 

I'll ditto jdcollins5. If you ever want to read the research on a health issue, go to the national library of medicine and search for it. Here are three on-topic hits. Summary: If there is an effect from power lines, it's small. Might be more of a concern for children, but even there, the effect must be small.

Concern that "EMF" magnetic fields from po... [Sci Total Environ. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

Impact of high electromagnetic field levels on ... [Int J Cancer. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

Electric and magnetic fields at power freque... [Chronic Dis Can. 2010] - PubMed - NCBI

Edit: And to put it into perspective, the greatest concern appears to be childhood leukemia. The meta-analysis above suggests something like a 1.4 odds ratio (40% more likely near power lines), with substantial uncertainty. The incidence of childhood leukemia in the US is 5 cases per 100,000 children. (Incidence is newly diagnosed cases per year). This is large enough to matter, as deaths are relatively rare in that age group (children, not infants). But if you had to model your risk, it would be an average 0.002% increase in the probability of childhood leukemia (at that 1.4 odds ratio), per year. I'd put any number of things higher on my list of concerns than that.

This also illustrates why it's so hard to get a handle on this topic. These are rare events.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/childhood

 

Without going into too much detail, there are electric fields and magnetic fields. An electric field exists when you have a charge differential, like between clouds and the ground before a lightning strike. The positive charge is attracted to the negative charge and vice versa. The attraction between the two is by an electric field that permeates space.

A magnetic field is similar, but it occurs between magnetic poles.

The two are often related in that a conductor moving through a magnetic field generates an electrical potential. Likewise a moving electrical charge generates a magnetic field. This is why we often have both fields together, which we call an electromagnetic field.

The Earth is surrounded by a mostly static magnetic field. This is like the field you would get if the Earth had a huge bar magnet stuck through its north-south poles.

The incoming solar wind is composed of charged particles. As previously mentioned, a moving electrical charge generates a magnetic field. This magnetic field interacts with the Earth's magnetic field and steers the charged particles toward the poles, which is why we see the Northern and Southern Lights.

Power transmission lines contain moving electrical charge, so they emit both electrical fields and magnetic fields. Most are AC, so they emit 60Hz fields. Some are DC, which would mean that they are static. In either case this is a low frequency EM field. Low frequency fields lack the energy to damage cellular structure.

Light is higher frequency EM radiation. At the very high end of the light spectrum is UV, which can cause burns. Going even higher you get into ionizing radiation, which can damage DNA.

That's the short version. There is plenty more online if one is interested. Just be wary of the nut jobs that fear all forms of EM energy.

Tom

 

It's usually because of the view. The towers aren't what most would call pretty.

Then there is irrational concern about the EM field. Which I believe started because of the humming that could come from the wires. Turns out that is just the wind.

 

If you're truly worried, install insulation with a metal backing and make sure it's firmly grounded.

In reality, don't worry about it since power lines are almost always 3 phase so the electromagnetic fields mostly cancel out at a distance.

 

As an opponent of both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, I am chagrined that many, if not most, in the anti-nuclear movement buy into the unscientific and irrational fear of power lines and non-ionizing EMF. However, the towers are ugly. That would lower the value of a house for me.

There's a big plot of land very near my home slated for some sort of electrical sub-station. I'm not happy about that, because of the ugly factor, and the fact that the public misperception might lower the value of my house. But in the overall life category, it's a small annoyance. I'm far more concerned about the airlines' abysmal record of luggage routing than I am about the power substation.

Mars is much smaller than the Earth. Its core is no longer molten. Thus no magnetic field. The answer to who switched it off? Time. The other problem about colonizing Mars is that its gravitational field is too weak to hold an atmosphere, due again to its small size. Unless they can build domes to hold in the air that are also capable of blocking charged particles, Mars colonists will have to live in sealed underground caverns. Technologically feasible, but not very pleasant IMO.

OTOH, the lack of a significant atmosphere would mean that astronomy would be great on days when there isn't a dust storm. Put on your space suit and step outside, and stargazing would be almost as good as being in space.

 

No one goes to the moon anymore. It's sooo last century.

Tom

 

we has HV lines cut through our farm and our house as a close to the lines as legally allowed and I spend a lot of time under them.. and I turned out fine.. though I do prefer Volts...

The hum/crackle is not just wind. On a dark nights we could localized corona discharges on the lines/towers and when it was humid it was much worse. (My understanding is newer designs are better about reducing that). It was also fun was to light an LED or a small tube florescent off an umbrella under the lines.

 

This explains a lot. Initially I assumed a hypoxic delivery or being dropped on your head as a child, but now we know the real truth.



Tom

 

That's why we left it (Mission to Mars)...

 

If you had decided to move there you would be OK with one of these hats. It would also protect you from government and alien mind control. Be sure your pets have one also.