Innovation of the week: Water-efficient showerhead

A next generation showerhead is "dripping with a Silicon Valley approach to innovation," said Marie Astrid-Langer at The Wall Street Journal. San Francisco–based startup Nebia, whose backers include Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google chairman Eric Schmidt's foundation, has developed a showerhead that uses 70 percent less water than a normal shower.

It draws on nozzle technology used in jet engines to create a "high-density mist" to cover the same surface area as the usual stream of water, and the showerhead itself is made from the same anodized aluminum Apple uses for its laptops. Nebia "could parch some pockets" with a starting price tag of $400 when it goes on sale next May, but the company says it pays for itself in the form of a lower monthly water bill.

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