The Four Categories of Electromagnetic Pollution
There are four categories of electromagnetic radiation that are called electro-pollution, or electrosmog. They rarely exist one at a time, but each device will have one predominant characteristic that is most important in an EMF safety analysis. These types of electrosmog can be measured individually, even if they occur together. The four phenomena that Building Biologist EMR specialists analyze are Electric Fields, Magnetic Fields, Radio Frequency Fields and Dirty Electricity, or Microsurge Electrical Pollution. Click on the images below to learn more about each one.
Electric
Magnetic
Microwave
Dirty Electricity
How the Experts Evaluate Electromagnetic Pollution
The International Institute for Building Biology and Ecology created an eight part video introduction to the science of building biology several years ago. This is part 2, on the basics of measuring electromagnetic fields. It gives people new to this area of science a look "behind the scenes" to see how usable measurements at sites under investigation are produced for comparison to established standards. (58 minute video)
The Standard Testing Methods for Building Biology were updated in 2024.
LED lighting has been recognized to have significant health damaging effects and testing methods now include an expanded section 9 on light itself:
LIGHT (Artificial Lighting, Visible Light, UV and Infrared Radiation)
Source: incandescent lamps, halogen light, fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent lamps, LED, screens, displays, VLC data transmission
Measurement of light spectrum, spectral distribution (nm), light flicker (Hz, %), illumination level (lx), color rendering index (CRI, Ra), color temperature (K), electromagnetic fields (V/m, nT), ultrasound (dB)
This is becoming the fifth important electromagnetic radiation source to be included in a typical residential or business survey. The spectral distribution of the visible electromagnetic radiation from an LED is just a part of the potentially harmful effects of LED lighting. Light flicker and color rendering index are important characteristics of the light output, and the ultrasound created as a result of the driver circuitry is also important. This involves new types of measurement instruments and additional training for EMRS to stay up to date.