Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

And with the news, weather, and sports too. We've certainly come a long way from the days of getting up early in the cold, stumbling through the house, and lighting an oil lamp.

I write a lot about smart home lighting. I'm fond of the way I can (and do) automate the lighting in my own home. And I'll touch on that in this article. But automation isn't the only way to create a 'smarter' home or office.

It’s not news that the construction industry has been badly impacted by fallout related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and Autodesk quantifies just how far-reaching the effects have been, with many firms reporting project delays and cancellations, along with serious problems with supply chain disruptions.

In addition to colorful leaves, pumpkin spice lattes and the start of sweater weather, the autumn months provide something we can all celebrate – an extra hour of sleep during the “fall back” time change.

Rest easy by using these tips to prepare for the annual Daylight Saving Time (DST) change this November.

When I was working with my designer/contractor on my kitchen redesign project last winter, I came to see all the ways kitchen cabinets can be more than plain wooden boxes. For the previous 15 years, I’d been living with cabinets that were just that – 65-year-old wooden boxes that been assembled onto the wall.

Looking through a manufacturer’s online enclosure catalog recently, I came across a term I hadn’t heard before. Now, I’m not a contractor, so I likely haven’t seen as many of these listings as you might have. But I am a journalist who has covered the construction industry for several decades, and the term “mild steel” stuck out to me when it showed up as a material option for the maker’s broad range of enclosure offerings.