No one can say that we don’t have varied weather on the East Coast. From bone-chilling winters to humid summers and everything in between, we’ve got it all. Fortunately, the waterfront location on the Rhode Island coast tempers the weather just enough to make the snowstorms slightly less worse and bring the cool sea air in the summer.

In the winter, when the light is at a premium, we might want to let in as much of it as possible. In the summer with a hot sun, we may want to control it better and minimize the use of air conditioning.

What’s the solution? The easiest way is with motorized shades, where you can touch a button – or issue a voice command – and raise or lower window treatments in seconds. Shades can be lowered when the sun is fully streaming in but can be raised to enjoy the view later, especially if you happen to have one of Narragansett Bay or the Atlantic.

Many people think that to get this automated convenience you need to limit yourself on style. That may have been true in earlier days, but there are a plethora of options now with motorized shades. C&T Systems works with Lutron for motorized shading as well as their lighting control systems because both offer a wealth of possibilities. Read on to learn more about Lutron Sivoia QS and Serena shading to see if they're right for your Newport-area residence.

The number of smart devices that are being connected to home networks is exploding every year. We dare say that you won't likely remember how many devices are connected to your home's network. Smart lights, cameras, speakers, thermostats, appliances, streaming devices, and TVs all need reliable networking for proper operation. When the network is faltering, you’ll likely notice.

If you stream high definition and 4K video from services like Netflix, your show may annoyingly stutter, pause to buffer or fail to play at all. Your smart thermostat may not keep the temperature settings you wanted. Beyond annoyances, more severe issues can happen if a spotty network doesn't inform you of an alarm from a water sensor or suspicious activity captured by a security camera.

Networking is a very technical area of computing. Features that are familiar to networking professionals like port forwarding, VLANs, and WPA2 security are practically meaningless to the average homeowner. Consumers rely on the wireless router option supplied by their Internet Service Provider (ISP), and in many cases, they do not even know how to change the default password that lets one manage the router – which is a security hole left wide open for hacking.

If you have a smaller property or perhaps can tolerate the occasional network hiccup because you don't entirely depend on it, maybe you can get by without professionally installed and optimized networking equipment.

But if you want to run a smart home with many devices, you rely on your network for security features and essential automation that has dependencies on many things working in tandem, and you need high bandwidth for work and entertainment at home, you should consider professional home network installation services and equipment for your home in the Guilford, Connecticut area.

Every day seems to bring another new smart device to the market.  Several key technology areas are driving the innovation – the availability of inexpensive, powerful chips, cloud-based software platforms, multiple wireless technologies, and machine learning – are enabling the addition of intelligent features to a slew of home devices.

Earlier this year at the CES consumer technology show, we saw a host of new smart devices introduced.  Smart lights, speakers, thermostats, coffeemakers, washing machines, irrigation controllers, refrigerators, ranges, and even toilets are getting injections of smart technology.  The technology in your home is accelerating from interesting novelty to genuine usefulness. Automation will bring about a change in how we use and manage our homes.  The functionality of smart home devices and systems is only getting better every year, and as it matures, we will become more accustomed to it and grow to depend on it in our daily lives – much like the smartphone.

Since we're early in this new year, we want to highlight the trends that will be driving the new smart products you will see in 2019.  This is the year when smart home automation becomes mainstream.  If you haven't yet invested in a home automation system for your Groton residence, there is no better time. 

Read on to learn more about the smart home automation trends you’ll be seeing this year. 

Until recently, the possibilities for storing energy in your home were very limited or nonexistent. What do you do when an ice storm knocks out power in your Stonington home? If power is out for more than a few hours, you might resort to a propane-powered generator. But that isn't the most eco-friendly or efficient solution.

Recent advances in battery technology have now made it feasible and cost-effective to store energy in your home. Why might you want to do that? If there's a power outage in an icy Connecticut winter, you can have your own source of energy. Moreover, these new systems are more than just a battery – they are intelligent energy management systems. They can help reduce your energy costs by storing power from the electric grid when it is abundant and cheapest, as in overnight hours. Electric utilities are also instituting energy management programs that are called demand response. These are ways to reduce power demand during peak times, which could be during a particularly cold Connecticut snowstorm or the occasional New England summer heat wave. Demand response allows utilities to control consumption by getting opt-in access from consumers to reduce their demand through control of smart thermostats and other means. 

C&T Systems is ready for this new intelligent energy management future. We are proud to announce that we will be working with Sonnen, the leader in smart energy management systems. Why Sonnen?  Because it is also the first product of its kind that can also be linked to smart home automation systems. With smart home automation and energy management systems working together, you can efficiently manage your consumption and prepare for the unexpected.

Keep reading to learn about the benefits of Sonnen energy management systems for your Connecticut property in the Stonington area or beyond.