India experienced a record high heat wave this past spring, with temperatures reaching upwards of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This led to a massive landfill fire outside of Delhi that burned for weeks, and even caused overheated birds to fall from the skies.

While modern air conditioning systems exist in Indian cities, the majority of the population is still without access to such technology. And since the greenhouse gases emitted by AC units contribute to global warming, trying to blanket the country with them may not be the best solution anyways.

That’s where Ant Studio’s eco-friendly idea comes in: using recirculated water to evaporate and cool the air as it continually flows down a beehive-shaped stack of clay tubes.

Evaporative cooling techniques date back to the ancient Egyptians. They would fan porous jars of water in their chambers, enjoying some temperature relief as the evaporating water took some of the oppressive heat with it. The Romans also employed water and clay to cool their houses, allowing the liquid to course through pipes in their walls.

Building a prototype of their brainchild outside the Deki Electronics factory in Uttar Pradesh, India, Ant Studio inserted cylindrical clay tubes into a rounded steel frame positioned on top of brick and tile basin. The Beehive’s water pump continually sends recycled water from the industrial plant up to the top of the structure, where it then flows down the surface of the clay. The multitude of clay pipes provides a larger surface area, increasing the cooling effect. Temperature measurements showed that the Beehive reduced the surrounding air to 97 degrees Fahrenheit from its previous 107 degrees.

After carefully studying various materials, Ant Studio chose clay as a material for the beehive because of its hygroscopic, or water attracting, properties. The designers found that clay carries a negative charge that bonds with the positive pole of a water molecule, allowing it to absorb water in both vapor and liquid states. Additionally, clay is completely recyclable, as it contains no complex chemicals or components.

The entire system is energy efficient and less expensive than traditional air conditioning. The use of recycled water from the factory’s existing supply minimizes waste. The water tank only needs topping off roughly once a month ,and the recirculating pump uses a small amount of electricity, making the Beehive a very economical cooling mechanism.

In areas where electricity is unavailable, the system could also be converted to a “zero-energy” model, with water being manually poured over the pots once or twice a day. While it would not have the same cooling power, it would have some effect and could still be easily built and maintained from local resources.

Ant Studio is also excited about employing pottery as part of the art/cooling device as a way of reviving what it sees as a fading ancient art. If the Beehive were to gain widespread traction, it could generate more work in the pottery market and help train new artisans in the trade.

The post This Terracotta Pipe Art Doubles as a Sustainable Cooling System 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!

The post The 6 Best Home Cooling Fixtures Under $200 first appeared on Dornob.

Researchers have found that the warmth, pressure, and sense of security provided by weighted blankets could in fact prompt the brain to release more serotonin, the “happiness hormone,” along with melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep and helps regulate the sleep cycle. Deep touch pressure can also help decrease nighttime levels of cortisol, the stress hormone linked to regulating blood pressure and the metabolism, thereby helping reduce inflammation and assisting with the creation of new memories.

These effects can be particularly useful to people with insomnia, depression, anxiety, autism, and sensory processing disorder, but just about anyone can benefit from them.

Weighted blankets usually consist of textiles filled with plastic pellets for an evenly-distributed weight ranging from five to 30 pounds total. All that material on top of you might sound great in winter when you could use the extra warmth, but what happens when hot weather arrives? A company called Hush says they have a solution. Their “Hush Iced” weighted blanket is specially designed for summer with cool-to-the touch fabric that wicks away sweat.

Incorporating the same advanced weight distribution and special short threading used to create their original weighted blanket, Hush has modified the fabric of the Iced’s cover just enough to make sure you don’t have to give up the blanket’s benefits for the warmer half the year. It’s also great for people who are just hot sleepers all around, even when it’s below freezing outside.

They explain: “Hush Iced is unique in that it provides a cooler way to reap the benefits of weighted blankets. Did you know that when you’re getting ready to take a snooze, your body temperature decreases to initiate sleep? Science shows that room temperature should be between 68 and 72 degrees for the optimum sleep benefits. Hush Iced can help you get there by preventing you from overheating, even during the nastiest heat wave.”

The Hush Iced blanket is available in three different weights: 15 pounds for people whose body weight is between 100 and 170 pounds, 20 pounds for people with a body weight between 171 and 240 pounds, and 25 pounds for those weighing 241 pounds and up. If you’re getting a queen-sized blanket for two people, Hush recommends going for the class above your own individual one.

The blanket is available in heather gray, and its cover is made of “proprietary fabrics” along with a bamboo and cotton blend. Inside, it’s made from things like microfiber, “non-toxic glass sand,” and cotton.

The Kickstarter campaign for the Hush Iced blanket was funded within just 45 minutes of its launch. You can still back the project to get the blanket at a special pre-order price, or you can wait until it’s available to the general public later this year.

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Reusable bottles are great, and there are plenty of options on the market to choose from, but it’s surprisingly hard to find one that meets every requirement at once: durable, spill-proof, easy to drink from, easy to clean, vacuum-insulated, and capable of being opened and closed with a single hand while driving, riding a bike, or holding a wriggling infant. The California-based design team behind the Lyd says their bottle can do all of that and more, allowing users to pick it up and drink from it at any angle as if it were a glass.

That 365-degree drinking access comes courtesy of the Lyd’s star feature: an automated cap that’s capable of sensing the user’s lips. The liquid flows from the part of the circular opening that’s closest to your mouth (as long as your lips are touching the lid) and stops when you’re finished drinking. That means no turning the bottle awkwardly to reach the opening or putting it to your mouth while distracted only to find that the opening is actually on the other side.

The one caveat to the Lyd’s clever design may be that in order to access all of its great features, you’ve got to regularly charge its electronic components. Thankfully, you can do so wirelessly, so you never have to actually plug it in, and a single charge lasts up to two weeks. If your bottle’s out of juice, you can still manually click the lid to access your drink. It’s hard to say how long components like this might last compared to the rest of the bottle, but the company says it will be offering battery replacements in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UwKUzuRAJY

The makers of the Lyd say the bottle “never spills,” which is great news for anyone who’s ever opened their bag after traveling only to find that everything inside is covered in hot coffee. It’s unclear how the bottle is able to tell the difference between your lips and, say, a soft object it might come into contact with inside your bag, but hopefully they’ve already tested for that possibility.

The Lyd’s double-walled stainless steel vessel keeps beverages cold or hot for up to 8 hours, and it’s available in 13 and 17-ounce sizes and five different colors. The top of the lid unscrews so you can thoroughly clean the inside with a sponge or bottle brush, and of course, the entire lid unscrews from the vessel as well.

While the Kickstarter campaign has ended, this high-tech reusable bottle should become available to the public by the end of 2018. Check back in at the Lyd Bottle website in November for more information.

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Some kind of organizer that keeps certain foods up out of the ice seems like an obvious way to solve the problem, but somehow, few such products actually exist. The JOEE, which takes its name from baby kangaroos, is looking to change all that.



The JOEE’s designers deem their creation “the ultimate hard cooler organizer,” consisting of a simple plastic insert that sits above the main ice compartment of your cooler to keep certain foods separate and protected. Cans and bottles are heavy and can end up smashing the more delicate items, so the JOEE gives them their own little upright compartment, holding six 12-ounce cans or three bottles. There’s also a section for clean, hygienic ice storage for your drinks and — perhaps most crucially — a dry food storage area. This section of the JOEE cooler organizer lets foods prone to sogginess stay chilled without directly touching any ice, holding up to nine sandwiches at once.

Made of impact-resistant BPA-free plastic, the JOEE also boasts a lid that doubles as a clean cutting surface, and test runs by its makers show that it keeps ice cold 13 percent longer than usual, even in high performance YETI coolers. Since it’s modular, you can leave your heavy cooler outside and just bring in the organizer to pack your foods and drinks. Then at the end of the day, just run it through the dishwasher.

The JOEE doesn’t just fit YETI coolers. It also works with a wide variety of models from Grizzly, Igloo, Coleman, Cabela’s, Canyon, Orca, Pelican, and more. If you want to determine whether it’ll fit your cooler, just make sure the bottom of the inside measures at least 9-and-3/8^ths inches wide, the inside top measures between 10-and-3/8ths and 13 inches wide, and the interior depth is at least 8.5 inches.

“Over the years, high-end coolers have evolved to become bear-proof, virtually indestructible, and to keep ice cold for as long as 10 days. But when it comes to food storage, most of the advanced coolers are still just an empty box. JOEE is changing that.”

“Imagine off-roading in the backcountry with a cooler in tow, knowing that the food you brought along is safely stored right where you put it. JOEE secures your food inside your cooler and protects dry ingredients from melted ice. Now, your cooler can be just as awesome on the inside as it is on the outside.”

The JOEE cooler organizer just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign. Backers will start to receive their products in November 2018, and it’ll likely be made available to the public around the same time. The JOEE is designed and manufactured in Colorado.

The post Maximum Cool: Hyper-Organized Cooler Nixes Soggy Sandwiches first appeared on Dornob.

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Evaporative cooling is a technique that has been used for millennia to cool spaces without the need for electricity or special equipment. In fact, all it takes is a porous container such as a terracotta pot, some water, and a bit of a breeze. Designers Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello want to bring the idea of evaporative cooling into the present day with a 3D printed porous brick that can cool a home with no need for air conditioning.

The 3D printed Cool Bricks are made from a mixture of clay and organic matter. After printing, they are fired in a kiln – a process that burns up the organic matter and leaves behind teeny-tiny pores that can hold microscopic beads of water. As with ancient evaporative cooling devices, the water evaporates when it meets warmer air, which reduces the air temperature nearby.

The designers, working under the name Emerging Objects, figured that building these cooling bricks into walls would produce the same effect as using an evaporative cooling device, but on a larger scale. Instead of running up a high electricity bill, users in hot, dry climates will just supply the thirsty walls with water and let nature cool their homes.

The Cool Brick combines the best of old-world ingenuity and modern technology to create a pretty smart product. While Cool Bricks aren’t quite ready to be built into new homes just yet, Emerging Objects hopes to soon build a full-scale prototype to show off just how amazing this melding of old and new innovations can be.

“Evaporative cooling is the addition of water vapor into air, which causes a lowering of the temperature of the air. Before the advent of refrigeration, evaporative cooling was used for millennia. Porous ceramic vessels were used to cool water by evaporation through their walls. Frescoes from about 2500 BC show slaves fanning jars of water to cool rooms.”

“Inspired by the Muscatese Evaporative cooling window, which combines a wood screen, or mashrabiya, and a ceramic vessel filled with water, the “cool brick” masonry system is used to build walls that passively cool interiors in desert environments.”

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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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Like the remnant framework of an abandoned rail bridge, this riverside cantilevered home has a deck that seems to fit its semi-barren surroundings, evoking a sense of place and history while also serving as a wonderful gathering space for the home’s owners and visitors.

Designed by Paul F. Hirzel (images by Jim Van Gundy), River Place reflects client desires to be as close to the water and conserve as much of the land as possible. At the same time, the building needed to deal with everything from regional wildlife (rattlesnakes at ground level) to extremely hot summer temperatures (mitigated through a combination of openness and proximity to the cooler river). Concrete piers hold the building aloft, giving it a very small remnant footprint on the landscape, while steel helps part of the structure cantilever over the water below.

The most bold and arguably beautiful element is the metal framework that defines and supports the overall plan, tying together disparate spaces into a singular and powerful unit: “The steel bridge truss supports a wood lattice (128’x24’) that shades conditioned space below and reduces cooling loads by 20%. A secondary benefit is an accessible roof deck for easy roof maintenance and mischievous wine tasting, as it has no guardrails. Single lane road access into the site required sizing the prefabricated truss members to be transported on a short flatbed trailer and installed with a small boom crane.”

More about its design and construction: “The main structure (living-guest quarters) is set on four 8-inch thick concrete piers. The central pier is doubled to make space for mechanical/electrical systems that connect lateral runs to the rooms. The finish floor elevation of the bridge structure (905 feet above sea level) was determined by a water shed hydrology analysis and is set above the 300-500 year flood event elevation. This ground separation also discourages snake infestations.”

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It is this kind of truly remarkable invention can (and did) get a student designer like Emily Cummins an invitation to visit with the Queen of England. It looks like an unassuming mixed-material cylinder, but conceals the astonishing ability to transform rays from the sun into vital food-chilling air … a simple but world-changing technology. This solar-powered fridge design is so simple, but so cool. Literally.

Refrigeration is a tough technology to make mobile, let alone solar-powered and suitable for the developed and developing nations of the world alike. A few years, now, since its creation, and already this little fridge has changed the lives of thousands of rural Africans who have heretofore relied on less convenient, cheap and healthy methods for keeping edible commodities fresh and safe.

Better than the best cold basement, this device is capable of keeping milk and meat cool for days in most climates – not quite as long in serious desert conditions. Not yet, anyway. A new model is already in the works to carry both food and medical supplies). This is not an entirely new concept – locals have been doing this in various countries for ages, but in low-tech, less-efficient and less-effective ways.

The outer shell of the device can be made with whatever materials may be handy (including wood or plastic), while the inner drum is crafted from metal. Soaking the layer between both cylinders with water (dirty works just as well as clean, since the inner unit is sealed) begins and evaporative cooling process that keeps the contents cold as long as it remains wet. Beyond making for a neat piece of camping gear, it can help preserve food for people in places without electricity all over the globe.

About Emily Cummins

“My design philosophy involves a back-to-basics approach which keeps an eye on the past as well as the future and combines the best of both. I’m motivated by human need as well as sustainability principles. My creative thinking has, amazingly, led to a string of commendations including being named as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young People in the World 2010, The Barclays Woman of the Year Award 2009 and Cosmopolitan magazine’s Ultimate Save-the-Planet Pioneer 2008.”

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Many architects talk of responding to the site and integrating their buildings with the surrounding natural environment, but few execute that intention with the compelling completeness shown in this house design. Moreover, the decisions that shaped this unique home were driven as much by sustainability and energy savings as they were by aesthetics and formal considerations.

The glass roof that spans the main structure allows natural lighting deep into the Base Valley House while providing a way for breezes crossing the site to pass through and cool the structure. Bedrooms carved out of the ground below are kept out of the sun and cooled year round by the surrounding earth.

Encased in wire mesh, stone retaining walls continue seamlessly from outdoors through the inside of the house, providing structural support to hold back surrounding dirt. However, this critical design move is also a tangible visible connection from the rocky bed of an adjacent outside stream to the carved (also stream-like) passage that serves as the main indoor circulation and gathering space.

Architect Hiroshi Sambuichi is known as a master of the relationship between architecture and nature. Observing and elevating the natural conditions surrounding his works is what leads to a beautifully balanced result. His love of nature developed during his childhood on the Seto Inland Sea, and his philosophy is that “architecture should become a detail of the Earth,” much like natural geographic features.

“In my work as an architect, my idea is to bring out the beauty of a specific place,” says Sambuichi in a video about his work. “The sun, the water and the air at that specific place. Thus my architecture will make the place as beautiful as possible. What interests me most is to bring out the beauty of a place. That’s why I spend a long time exploring the moving materials of the specific place.”

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This is one of those designs that most of us never see – the incredible cantilevered portion of the wood-facade structure by Jackson-Clements-Burrows juts out over the private back yard, while the front of the house is relatively nondescript. Who gets the best seat in the house? The kids’ rooms are in the thrust portion of this sustainable hovering residential addition.

Though it has little or no resemblance to the wooden exterior, punctuated by patterns in the wood, it is nonetheless impressive in entirely different ways. The visual language of the interior spaces is mostly modern with little emphasis on pattern and grand gestures – in short: it is a contemporary livable space.

Don’t be fooled, however: this is not just a stylistic statement on the exterior – the rain-screen and shade-providing facade is part of a series of green strategies carried into the building interior including a thermal chimney and hallways that function as breezeways for passive cooling, heating and natural ventilation.

More from the architects

“This alterations and additions project addresses a briefing requirement of providing space for a young growing family with 3 children under the age of 10. The initial idea was to challenge the conventional ‘box on the back’ type addition with a sculptural form born of site restraints; such as the ResCode setbacks along the south boundary; the ideal internal programmatic arrangement, the desire to maintain as much back yard as possible and inspired by the rooftop topography of hips and valleys of the existing Edwardian house. Three kids bedrooms and a bathroom were placed cantilevering above the garden, above a large living space below. This programme was then wrapped in a seamless timber skin, covering roof, windows and walls.”

“This idea of skin is carried through to the detailing of operable timber shutters that are scattered across the façade where openings are required. The notion of the Trojan house is reflected in the idea of an enveloping skin, a built form which contains the unexpected; where windows are disguised with shutters, and where the internal program is unknown. Internally this program is extrapolated to fit the container with kids bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and living spaces downstairs. Again an unexpected gesture, when children are not isolated in bedrooms but made to feel part of the greater internal space.”

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