By Jim Cavan

Technically we’re all still glorying in the dog days of summer. But as sure as summer’s end comes quicker than its arrival, one thing’s for certain: fall and winter are right around the corner. That means more days and nights spent indoors, more early nights, and, of course, more football.

For many – and certainly for more than a few guys – the arrival of fall means rekindling your months-dormant relationship with your living room and, more specifically, your television. Maybe yours is of a Spartan sensibility: one or two couches, a nice recliner for the ruler of the roost, and a stand-alone television whose only speakers reside on the appliance itself. Maybe you don’t even have couches. Maybe you’re one of the countless guys who have been looking for an excuse to turn your living room into your own personal I-MAX theater.

Well, that might be a stretch. What’s less of a stretch, however, is the notion that – money being no object – one of the first things thing’s we’d look to do is bolster our home’s entertainment system. And while such endeavors are by no means cheap, there’s one Massachusetts company that’s not only offering itself as a surprisingly affordable alternative – but one that is “green” as well.

After years working in retail selling home audio and video systems, Nahant, Massachusetts native Paul Ford decided he was tired of simply “pushing boxes out the door”. In 2005 he started his own business, Atlantic Home Systems, which provides custom home entertainment as well as home automation and energy management systems.

What exactly is an energy management system? In short, it allows the homeowner to control the bulk of their home’s appliances – everything from TVs to sidewalk lighting to heat and air conditioning – from one interface. Because the systems offered by Atlantic allow you to put your entire home on a specific, set schedule, everything works more efficiently, saving you money and reducing your home’s carbon footprint in the process. You can even subscribe to an online program that allows you to monitor your home and its energy use from the other side of the world. When the equipment on the interface is not in use, it will go into “standby” mode, meaning a significant amount of energy is being saved.

Ford has always had a keen interest in all things audio and video, touting an extensive background and education in acoustical, audio, and visual engineering. And because his Barrington home office is also his showroom, he feels he can provide a prospective customer with a much more real, intimate picture than a lot of the big box stores.

"Having the showroom also be my home, I can show people how the system actually works as a whole, for a real family,” says Ford.

Ford prides himself on sourcing a vast majority of his products from within the U.S., and even has one company in Norwood, Massachusetts who serves as a regular supplier – impressive for an industry where a few select and world-strewn companies dominate the market. Additionally, Control 4, one of Ford’s largest suppliers (particularly in the realm of energy management systems) is known for working with power companies who utilize “smart” grids, which are far more efficient than standard energy grids.

After growing tired of simply pushing the most expensive products on customers while working in retail, Ford now sees owning his own business as an opportunity to work with a customer to find the system or program that is best for them. “Being independent allows me to only buy the things that I need, so all I have to figure out is the customer’s needs, their lifestyle, budget, and so on,” says Ford. “I’m not concerned with particular manufacturers or making profits on specific items, which means I can really work in the customer’s best interest to help them become more efficient.”

At the end of the day, while he may be programming and networking appliances and devices that are themselves not exactly the most efficient in the world, the resulting controllable system makes plenty of room for the user to do just that. It just depends on how efficient – and how intelligent – they want the system to be. According to Ford, when it comes to one of his custom-designed systems, the sky’s the limit: “The nature of the system itself is that it’s all retrofit-able, all wireless, and it can be easily adjusted and tweaked once installed,” explains Ford. “If you do it right, there’s no telling how much more efficient your home can become.”