Janus Resource Awareness System
Honorable Mention
Name: Dominic Peralta
School: San Jose State University
City: San Jose, CA
Dominic Peralta's Janus system raises consumers' consciousness of their environmental impact, and not by beating up on SUVs. Its hub is a wall mirror that doubles as a touchscreen to register and display, in dollars, exactly how much electricity we consume in our homes and the effect of dimming or turning off lights. The jurors thought the hub's design sacrificed aesthetics for engineering but found no fault with the concept apart from its limited scope, which they would like to have seen extended to water and gas. "Left-on lights and dripping faucets add up to a considerable burden," Williams said. "The reason we persist with these wasteful ways is because we're not aware of their impact."
