With droughts hitting many parts of the U.S., water efficiency is on everyone's minds. It's good timing for the debut of Nebia, a shower head that's been totally re-engineered to use 70 percent less water than other heads, yet provide (its creators claim) a superior shower experience.
Rather than firing a continuous stream or a collection of large droplets, the Nebia (Italian for "mist," or close to it) atomizes the water into a mist directed at your body. This leads to a number of things: More water ends up on your body rather than bouncing off, more heat is transferred from the drops to you and the surroundings, and it covers more of you without your having to move or rotate.
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All together, the Nebia claims to provide a far superior shower: warmer, wetter and more efficient. Of course, it isn't the first misting shower head, and not everyone uses a simple, high-velocity stream head either. But it does look nice, and the water savings are significant.
It was impressive enough to catch the eye of Tim Cook — yes, the CEO of Apple — and Eric Schmidt, Google exec, both of whom have invested in the company (and, one presumes, tested the shower).
The catch is that the system will set you back $300 — 10 times the cost of a nice normal shower head. It could pay for itself in a year or two if you have a family that takes long and frequent showers, but the Nebia is definitely a luxury item. If you back the gadget on Kickstarter, where it has already met its goal, you can expect your fancy shower times to start as early as spring of 2016.
