Enter Windmill Air, a direct-to-consumer company offering a new generation of air conditioners that are efficient, quiet, easy to install, eco-friendly, and smart. The Windmill AC has a clean modern look that will fit right in with the rest of your smart home gadgets and accessories, with little visible from inside other than a mesh face and a disappearing digital temperature display. Soft edges help it blend into the window. These are all big pluses for anyone sick of their AC ruining the look of their room all summer – but of course, looks aren’t all the Windmill has to offer.

Measuring just over 13 inches high, 19 inches wide, and 19 inches deep, the unit takes up minimal space in your window. Less than one-third of it projects into the room, and the air is directed up instead of straight out, so you can still place furniture directly under it without interfering with the all-important flow of cold air. This little unit puts out 8,300 BTUs, which is on the lower end for window units (cooling up to 350 square feet), but it’s surprisingly powerful for its size. If that’s not enough power for your space, the company promises the release of a 6,000 BTU version next spring.

The air conditioner offers three cooling settings: “Cool,” “Fan,” or “Eco,” which is essentially a half-power mode. Its cooling power comes from an eco-friendly refrigerant (R32) with 68 percent less global warming potential than the usual refrigerant (R410a) used by most other units. The materials are mostly recyclable, and the company takes back old units. To offset the energy consumed by the units, Windmill also invests in tree protection projects for every unit purchased.

The Windmill AC unit comes with a tiny remote control, but you can also use the accompanying Windmill app, Google Home, or Amazon Alexa to control it. Another cool feature (pun intended) is the option to add activated carbon air filters to help clean the air in your home, which is definitely a welcome addition for anyone dealing with wildfire smoke in their area.

While most people can install the Windmill alone in under 30 minutes, it does weigh 60 pounds, so it’s usually easier to manage with two people. This modern air conditioning unit comes with double-insulated side panels to adjust to the size of your window, and fits window openings between 23 and 27 inches wide and at least 14 inches high. Get it for $395 directly from the Windmill website or through Home Depot.

The post The Windmill: Finally, an Air Conditioning Unit That Actually Looks Good first appeared on Dornob.

Indoor Ceiling Fan – Prominence Home 80092-01 Alvina Ceiling Fan ($59.99)

Garnering 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 5,300 reviews, this low-profile ceiling fan is perfect for rooms up to 350 square feet. You can choose your color preference from its reversible blades and enjoy the three different speeds. It can operate via the included pull chains or with universal fan remotes. Reviewers praise it for its quiet motor and ease of installation.

Outdoor Ceiling Fan – Honeywell Palm Island 52-Inch Tropical Ceiling Fan ($89.00)

With a long 52-inch blade, this fan is designed to move lots of air around in a big space. Reviewers say the 13-degree angle design is what gives it the air-movement edge over traditional 6-degree angles. Equipped with four speeds, this Honeywell model also boasts a reversible motor that can help warm a space in the winter. It can be hard-wired or operated by pull chain or universal remote. With 4.5 stars from over 2,100 reviewers on Amazon and a limited lifetime guarantee, this seems like a solid choice. Plus, its palm-shaped blades just look cool.

Portable Air Conditioner – Large AUZKIN Evaporative Air Cooler Desk Fan ($71.99)

This is actually a five-in-one device: portable air conditioner, small desk fan, air circulator, evaporative air cooler, and air humidifier. While it’s not as powerful as some of the larger portable AC units out there, for the price tag this mini version packs a powerful punch and gets great reviews (4 out of 5 stars on Amazon from over 1,100 buyers). With three wind speeds and an 800 mL water tank, it can operate continuously for up to eight hours at a time. There are no refrigerants or other chemicals to deal with, and you can even insert essential oils to refresh the smells in your space.

Window Air Conditioner – Toshiba 5,000 BTU 115-Volt Window Air Conditioner ($149)

This window-mounted box cooling system is ideal for apartments and smaller homes. With two cooling and fan speeds, it sports a sleek, modern look that fits well in any room. It comes with a washable and reusable filter, simple mechanical controls, and easy installation instructions. This Toshiba model gets 4 out of 5 stars on Home Depot’s website based on over 1,600 reviews, and with a one-year warranty on parts and labor, you can enjoy colder air with no worries.

Tower Fan – Lasko 36-Inch Tower Fan ($46.50)

This portable tower fan is powerful and popular. With over 16,800 reviews on Amazon, it rates a 4.6 out of 5 stars thanks to its three whisper-quiet speeds and consistent air flow. Even better, it can either blow air in one direction or oscillate to move air from side to side, cooling an entire room. The handy built-in timer also allows the fan to automatically shut off after a predetermined time (up to seven hours). With easy assembly and a wireless remote control, this fan has certainly created a lot of happy customers.

Mister System – MistyMate Cool Patio 30 Outdoor Misting Kit ($79.99)

For entertaining outside on a hot summer day, this misting system is sure to help keep guests cool. This model includes a 30-foot UV-resistant mister with an extra 10 feet of supply line. It can be tacked up around the edge of your patio or pergola to provide a gentle spray over a large area. And while it does need access to a water spigot, this mister does not require batteries or power of any kind. Some of the 600 reviewers who have rated it a 4.4 out of 5 stars say that it’s easy to set up and can cool an outdoor space by about 20 degrees.

For under $200, one of these home cooling fixtures is sure to give you the temperature you want at the price you need!

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These six humidifiers offer an option for virtually every taste and budget, including models that diffuse scents, kill bacteria with UV lights, and work without electricity. Just remember to keep yours hygienic by replacing the water inside every day, cleaning the water tank regularly, and using distilled water to avoid a buildup of minerals.

Best Decorative Option: Objecto W4 Hybrid Humidifier

It’s hard to find electronics that look this good. Objecto’s W4 Hybrid Humidifier essentially looks like a pleasingly shaped vase, and it comes in both wood grain and acrylic to fit into practically any interior design style, from bohemian to ultramodern. Best of all, it features a removable water tank and aroma trays for your favorite essential oils. It’s $169 at Verishop, but you can also pay in installments via Afterpay.

Best Value: Crane Drop Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier

Priced at just $49.99 at Target, this petite humidifier comes in eight different colors, from unobtrusive white to bright neon pink. Its cool mist adds moisture to the air in rooms measuring up to 500 square feet, and it’s more energy efficient than a household light bulb. But for the price, you get a pretty high capacity, with a whopping one-gallon water tray.

Most Versatile: HoMedics 2-in-1 Warm and Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier

HoMedics’ TotalComfort 2-in-1 humidifier lets you choose between cool and warm mist, depending on what’s comfortable for your room, and even between floor use or table use with a “mist extension wand.” An essential oil tray lets you turn it into a scent diffuser if you like, too, and it even comes with a remote control for easy operation.

Best Non-Electric Option: Set of 2 Ceramic Natural Water Humidifiers

No batteries, electricity, or humming sounds here. These natural ceramic humidifiers work by evaporation, and while they won’t have quite the same impact as a more conventional model, they’re great for people who just want a little bit of extra moisture in the air. Bonus: they have a nice minimalist look and can be placed virtually anywhere you like.

Biggest Splurge: Dyson AM10 Humidifier

If you just have to have the best of the best, Dyson’s futuristic-looking humidifier offers three functions in one: air humidification, a high-velocity fan option, and ultraviolet cleanse technology to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria before the air is projected into the room.

Best Rated: Honeywell Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier

Easy to find at a variety of retailers and highly rated by customers, this Honeywell cool mist humidifier is affordable, too, currently priced at $64 on Amazon. Its evaporative technology blows moisture off a wicking filter so it evaporates into the air quickly, and UV technology kills 99.9 percent of bacteria in the water.

The post The 6 Best Humidifiers to Keep You Breathing Easy During Quarantine first appeared on Dornob.

The trend for healthy living has been on the rise for decades now, particularly gaining momentum by leaps and bounds in the 21^st century. One of the last places to be untouched by it is the home, but the new DARWIN Wellness System is poised to change that by making it easier than ever to monitor the air, lighting, and water quality in it.

The Company

Back in 2012, Delos launched its real estate company in New York. What made them unique was their “wellness real estate” focus. Their mission was clear: to improve the quality of home living by monitoring and controlling the elements that keep people healthy: air, water, and lighting.

The DARWIN system (aka DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence) was formally launched in Sydney, Australia in the fall of 2019. The system includes lighting that imitates natural light patterns in homes along with sensors and filters that identify and eliminate impurities in the air and water.

How It Works

The home environment is monitored by DARWIN on a tablet similar to an iPad. The Wi-Fi-dependent system displays several metrics gathered through air quality sensors and filters that perceive and eradicate impurities like pollution and smoke from the home. On top of that, the system’s water purifiers eliminate chlorine, heavy metals, and other negative elements from the home’s tap water.

Light is also a major component in health maintenance, with natural light patterns playing a big part in overall human wellness. DARWIN’s lighting component is designed to replicate natural light patterns, with blackout shades that are programmed by residents to bathe the home in natural light at a specific time each morning and slowly dim each evening.

Paul Scialla, CEO of Delos, explains that the lighting system was designed to offset the negative effects of humans spending too much time inside. “We’re indoors for most of our lives,” he says. “And while we may not be able to change that, DARWIN gives you the ability to change your environment.”

Spreading the Word

Delos chose Australia to debut the DARWIN System for practical reasons. Beth McGroarty, the Research Director for the Global Wellness Institute, says: “Australia is a trailblazer in wellness real estate and started taking it seriously almost two decades ago, before it was a worldwide trend.” Delos teamed up with Simonds and Lateral Estate, two Australian real estate developers, for the project. Today, DARWIN-enhanced properties are on the market in the outer reaches of both Sydney and Melbourne.

According to Global Wellness Institute statistics, wellness real estate is a $134 billion market worldwide and is estimated to increase to almost $200 billion by 2022. Australia’s market share is valued at $9.5 billion, making it the third largest on Earth behind the United States and China.

Delos’ projects in Australia also include lower-cost and luxury properties. They joined forces with Simonds, a major homebuilder, on lower-priced residences in the state of Victoria and several suburbs in the Melbourne region. Lateral Estate is also currently offering DARWIN-enhanced luxury apartments in a Sydney suburb for prices ranging from $550,000 to $1.4 million.

The post Futuristic DARWIN Wellness System Creates Healthier Homes first appeared on Dornob.

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If you feel like the stuffy air, close confines, and general dreariness of your office environment is making you physically ill, you’re probably right. Many office buildings are poorly ventilated and either too dry or too damp, the latter condition leading to mold growth. Plus, everything from the paint on the walls to your coworkers’ perfume adds to the mix of chemicals you breathe in every day. But according to the NASA Clean Air Study, a variety of indoor plants can help filter all sorts of pollutants from the air, including benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, and ammonia.

With that knowledge, most offices might add a few hardy plants here and there, which is definitely better than nothing. But what happens when you take it to the extreme? Architecture firm Salgascano presents a stunning example of prioritizing greenery in the workplace with its design for Second Home Lisboa, a co-working space in Portugal’s capital city. The bright, airy complex provides an open-plan workspace and a variety of other facilities for its 250 members amidst the tropical foliage of over 1,000 plants.

The warehouse-style facility provides a high ceiling, lots of windows and plenty of artificial lighting to augment the daylight that comes streaming in through the glass. Curvilinear work surfaces flow throughout the space in organic arrangements, all topped with dozens of potted plants. Some of them stretch almost all the way toward the ceiling, and it’s easy to imagine the whole place feeling more and more like a lush jungle as they continue to grow.

Not only do the plants serve as a decorative element, they reduce background noise, improve the air quality, provide privacy and help boost the productivity and well-being of workers using the space. Wouldn’t you feel more inspired and focused if you were gazing at all that greenery every day instead of cubicle walls?

Selgascano’s efforts to make Second Home Lisboa a green, healthy space don’t stop there. The building was renovated with recycled and environmentally sustainable materials, and features an advanced radiant heating and cooling system to promote cross-air ventilation. This co-working space is set inside the Mercado Da Ribeira, a historic market hall built in 1892, and overlooks its rows of colorful produce in the market below.

“We wanted absolutely to maintain that inherited idea of one single open space, getting small companies to share a huge table divided in three, encouraging relationships,” says architect Lucia Cano. “The flowing design of the table gives members their own area of private space to focus on their work whilst keeping a sense of community.”

“Another big aim was to reduce the energy consumption of the building. Working with one of the best climate engineers we ever worked with, Adam Ritchie, we were able to eliminate the air-conditioning system and create a radiant floor system with natural ventilation taken from the ones used in a conventional greenhouse. And maybe that’s why we decided to give privacy and at the same time a better quality of air, placing 1,000 plants on the top of that big table.”

“Actually the plants are the only thing you notice when you enter the main space, even if 250 chairs, 100 lamps and 250 people are also hidden in between that densely occupied big ‘greenhouse table.'”

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This terra cotta pot is much more than it seems at first. It isn’t just a decorative item; it cools the air in your home through a concept called bio-air conditioning. The Cold Pot was created by Zurich-based designer Thibault Faverie, and it cools your home with far less electricity than an air conditioner would use.

The warm air is drawn into the terra cotta pot by a small fan in the Cold Pot’s aluminum core. The water inside the Cold Pot is absorbed by the terra cotta and drawn to the outer surface, where evaporation releases the cooled water in its gaseous state. The outgoing air is an impressive 48-50 degrees F (8-10 degrees C) cooler than the room temperature.

Although the addition of the fan is new, the clay-pot-as-air-conditioner concept has been used for thousands of years. Despite its remarkable and simple functionality, the Cold Pot requires little maintenance or effort on the owner’s part. It takes only a little over a half gallon (two liters) of water to make it work. Besides being functional and elegantly simple, the Cold Pot is a truly attractive item that will look much better sitting on the floor of your living room than that plastic oscillating fan you usually use to cool off.

“Cold pot is a terracotta pot inspired by natural system to gradually lower the air temperature through the process of evaporation. Based on the ‘bio air-conditioning’. The porous terracotta surface acts as a heat exchange; it absorbs water from the inside and sends it to the outer surface. On contact with air, the water evaporates. The change from a liquid state to gaseous one results in the cooling of the object and consequently the inner aluminium pipe, where air is circulates. It is low maintenance, and requires just two liters of water.”

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