Building Biology Quick Guide

Building Biology Evaluation Guidelines For Sleeping Areas (SBM-2025) 

What EMF levels are safe, and how many lights on my meter are bad? These are the two most asked questions. Some would say the short answer is that there are no safe non-native EMF levels, while others claim that non-ionising EMFs present no danger. One thing everyone can agree on is that natural background EMF levels aren’t just health-supportive — they’re vital for our survival.

If our goal is to reap the rewards of natural EMFs — free from man-made interference — then, as far as standards or guidelines go, the Building Biology Guidelines lead the way. Their limits sit far closer to nature’s background noise floor than our regulatory agencies. Unlike captured Government agencies that base their limits on short-term thermal effects, the Building Biology Guidelines are grounded in the long-term biological effects of electromagnetic radiation. Note: Hypersensitive individuals should use ultra-sensitive meters such as the Save & Sound Pro2/EM3 combo or a full Gigahertz Solutions kit. ($2000 to $5000AUD)

Some sensitive people do much better when RF & A/C electric fields are well below the  Building Biology guidelines. This is very difficult to achieve, as it generally requires living in remote areas — often within valleys or mountainous regions.

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RF Mode: Building Biology Guidelines

* The meter measures down to approximately 0.5 µW/m² and not down to 0.1 µW/m², so allow for extra distance or shielding for signal drop off/damping. Use both RF Mode & RF-Xs Sound Signature Mode to detect and listen to the environment.) 

The Mito Meter detects down to approximately 0.5 µW/m² (−60 dBm) — slightly less sensitive than professional RF meters that can measure below 0.1 µW/m². However, the Mito’s performance remains more than effective for screening RF environments. Most RF broadband meters struggle with accuracy when measuring multiple RF sources, like in a city. Even professional meters can’t calculate (add up) precisely in dense RF areas — only real-time RF spectrum analyzers can. However, for general assessments, RF broadband meters remain the simplest and most avoidable options.

Ideally, you don’t want any LED lights on RF Mode in your bedroom, or even better, no detectable signals on the Mito Meter from standing outside of your home, but this is rare today, even in rural areas. 

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LFM Mode: Building Biology Guidelines

For a restorative sleep, aim to rest in an environment with less than 20 nT of background magnetic fields from the PowerGrid. In Australia, the best environments we’ve found are properties with continuous 50 Hz AC magnetic fields of around 5 nT.(Z-axis – vertical, with the meter held upright.)

Properties this low are mainly rural, though small pockets of low-field areas can still be found around cities.

The Mito Meter is designed to provide highly accurate readings at 50/60 Hz, while being weighted toward higher frequencies to better detect magnetic fields from smartwatches, phones, laptops, vehicles, and other electronic devices — helping you more effectively locate and reduce problematic areas.

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LFE Mode: Building Biology Guidelines

 **The meter measures down to approximately 1-2 V/m. (Allow 1-2 meters of extra distance from the source at the first green light to account for voltage drop-off.)

As far as sleeping areas go, even a single green light on the Mito Meter in LFE Mode places you within the “Severe Concern” category of the Building Biology guidelines for electric fields (E-Fields).

It’s important to keep in mind that the Mito Meter, in LFE Mode, will only measure down to approximately 1 V/m when using the body ground pad. Ideally, to align with the highly stringent German Building Biology guidelines, measurements should reach down to at least 0.3 V/m (300 mV/m).

There are ways to work around the limited E-Field sensitivity of the Mito Meter, even though it is the most sensitive 3-in-1 E-Field EMF meter available worldwide:

· As a general rule of thumb, you can apply the inverse square law for E-Field drop-off and ensure you have no LED lights showing on your Mito Meter in LFE Mode within one to two meters of your bed.

· If budget permits, consider purchasing a dedicated professional E-Field meter that can measure down to 0.1V/m, such as the Gigahertz Solutions ME3851A (€540) or Save & Sound EM3. ($649USD)

· Alternatively, hire a Building Biology EMF specialist to check the bedrooms with their professional low frequency meter.

Try turning off bedroom power/light circuits at the switchboard — in many cases, that alone can bring electric fields down to Building Biology levels. Lighting circuits are usually the worst offenders.

Keep in mind that it’s not always possible to reach these ultra-low levels in every property and achieving them may require the help of an electrician to make some changes at the circuits board.

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For more information on measurement methods, refer to our EMF Basic pages [Here.]