Some of us northern types really like our west-facing lanais for morning coffee and reading the paper--and for the warm welcome home after being out and about on those rather cold January days here. I know there are those who feel they must besmirch west-facing lanais--but I consider ours to be a feature.
We have the awning because I like to sit under it outside. I am not a sun-worshipper, but I like to read outside sometimes. We also have shades on the sliders, to use whenever needed.
Ours is just an awning, but I have seen a shade over a pool and it was impressive.
Our awning has some kind of wind thing on it that is supposed to tell it to automatically retract if it gets too windy. But we can't vouch for that because we have never left our awning to its own devices. It is, of course, controlled by a remote so it's easy to take care of--if you remember to retract when you leave.......and who knows, maybe it can take care of itself. We just don't want to find out.