Ever since I began writing this article, the song spinning through my head is Lana Del Ray’s ‘I got that summertime, summertime sadness
Su-su-summertime, summertime sadness’ (of course I have a melodious husky voice in my head) but this choice of song could purely be because it has been summertime in Cancun, Mexico for almost 2 months and there is no escaping the brutal heat. With climate change and quarantining as it is, using the air conditioner feels like a guilty pleasure. That is exactly why I put together this collection of product designs that will help you have a cool, eco-friendly summer this year without sky-rocketing your electricity bills!
With summer comes an increase in usage of air conditioners and we know they are not exceptionally healthy for the planet. To help maintain the electricity usage, designers Aileen Ooi and E Ian Siew created an attachment to the common standing fan everyone has stashed away at their homes to make the room cooler. The attachment, named KYL is a humidity filter that funnels airflow output to cool a closed room. KYL would be able to lower temperatures by 1.5degrees Celsius and also make the room arider (a boon in humid places like Singapore, India, and more). Utilizing Bernoulli’s principle to create a cooling effect, KYL comes with a removable filter made up of tiny pieces of silica gel which absorbs moisture from the air. This lowers the humidity in the room and we can reuse the silica gel by washing it then leaving it out in the sun to dry, minimizing the usage of electricity. And removing this filter is easy as it comes affixed with velcro.
Cineorama is an outdoor viewing space with projectors by Erika Hock. Made to be a space to enjoy your favorite movies the way they were meant to be, the Cineorama creates a comfortable space in your yard to host a gathering with your friends. Now if only you could get a portable popcorn maker!
The Rattan Fan’s form has been inspired by some classic rattan pieces like the iconic chair, woven baskets, beach bags, and lightweight cabinets that you find on islands. It is airy, it technically has to be, but it visually adds a ‘lightness’ to the room it is in. Rattan is a natural sustainable material that is versatile (talk about being used from furniture to fashion) and sturdy. It also adds a touch of luxury while remaining subtle and unobtrusive to the existing interior design. Unlike coolers, the wireless rattan fan is not an eyesore and provides the flexibility to sit anywhere because the power of the breeze is in your hands now.
The Lilypad is a luxury villa designed by Chuck Anderson and is anchored just north of Sydney’s Palm Beach. Anderson is a boat enthusiast so it is no surprise that he created a floating house! This beautiful Airbnb is also eco-conscious, it is completely solar-powered and is slowly helping us pivot towards sustainable travel. The exterior of the house is made from timber and includes an open living area, a wine cellar, a sleeping loft and, of course, a bathroom (for all that wine that we will consume post quarantine on our holiday!). To feel fancy, you have an al fresco dining (means you can eat your food while enjoying the breeze and sun when going outside is cool again) and sunbathing area on the lower level which also boasts of an expansive terrace.
The Four Seasons shakers by Qualy Design are quite literally perfection. You’ve got four shakers that embody four different seasons and hold four different seasonings. Designed for salt, pepper, dried herbs, and chili flakes, the shakers come with plants on the inside that pair well with the seasoning. The pepper shaker comes with a cactus inside, turning the shaker into a summer scene (make sure you use white pepper for proper effect!)
The evaCHILL provides each user with their own personal microclimate without the release of Carbon Dioxide! How? It uses the principle of water evaporation to create moist, fresh, and, most importantly, cool air! This isn’t Evapolar’s first endeavor into personal cooling however, it is undeniably the most refined. evaCHILL is compact enough to be mobile, intuitive enough to be easily controlled, and stylish enough to look right at home within your workspace!
Usually, the ice pop making process is anything but quick, which can lead to frustratingly long waits as our impatience levels increase. This is certainly not the case for Ellie Tsang’s THE SEAL, which reduces the processing time down to a mere 10 minutes! You may be asking how this has been achieved? It takes full advantage of the working principle of an ice-cream maker but reduces the volume significantly. This, paired with the metal molds that reduce the freezing time even further, allow for ice-lollies to be made in just a matter of minutes… so you can enjoy the refreshing treat on a whim!
Lee’s dehumidifier comes equipped with an auto-focus camera, a humidity sensor, and a timer. The Turn On Booking allows the user to set a time on the timer. You can set the timer and leave your home at ease. Once you activate the Turn On Booking feature, Smoving goes into Automatic Operation Mode. When the appointed time arrives, and Smoving is in Automatic Operation Mode, the moisture sensor begins to detect and recognize the most humid spots in the home. Once the spot has been detected, the auto-focus camera perceives the surrounding, picking out obstacles, ensuring that the dehumidifier reaches the wet spot without encountering any of them. Smoving dehumidifies the area, maintaining an appropriate level of humidity in turn.
Meet the Coldwave. It claims that it can, without any electricity, turn any room-temperature beverage cold in as little as 30 seconds… and can chill down boiling hot coffee in just under 2 minutes. The Coldwave Beverage Chiller comes in two parts. A jug/pitcher to hold the beverage needed to be chilled, and a specialized lid that holds water. The lid’s unique design doesn’t sit above the jug, but rather inserts itself into the jug, immersing itself within the beverage. Store the lid in a freezer for a few hours and the water it holds turns to ice. Place the lid into the jar, and the ice instantly cools the beverage, without ever making contact with it. The lid’s design maximizes beverage-to-ice contact by increasing surface area and allows you to cool your drink without diluting it.
Noori’s multipurpose stove, the V01 model functions not only as a rocket stove but as a barbeque, pizza oven, and fire pit. From ribs, burgers, hot dogs to wood-fired pizza, the V01 functions as a versatile cooker for all occasions. Noori can be used as a permaculture vertical ‘Rocket Stove’. The wood-burning stove, aided with its ability to ensure complete fuel combustion, can be used to cook various recipes with diverse cooking utensils such as pans, casseroles, and other stovetop dishes. And of course last but not the least, it serves as a wood fire pit, warming up even the coldest of days, so there is no season when you won’t need Noori!
Leisure 28 is a sleek electric boat designed by Rand Boats, a Danish company committed to using sustainable design and innovative technology for giving you the best experience out on the water. This boat is built on the pillars of modern Scandinavian design and has powerful electric propulsion (so no motor noise or fuel smell!) with a maximum speed of 45 mph that can run for two hours without a recharge. Its hull design helps in making it ultralight and optimizes the performance effortlessly. Leisure 28 is made of a mix of recycled plastics and bio-based hybrids which makes it environmentally friendly. Let’s continue dreaming about this minimal, graceful, luxurious boat we all need…and can have for USD 172,000.
Its summertime, and though we want to go and park ourself on the beaches, COVID-19 is still going strong and until we have a solution for this illness, social distancing and taking other preventive measures is all we can do. So stay home and stay safe!