London phone boxes become smartphone-charging stations

Ziggy | 05 Oct, 2014 03:35PM | Leave a comment
The red phone boxes dotted around London are as iconic as the capital's red buses, black cabs and beefeaters. They are also, however, a relic of a former age, and are rarely used anymore, other than by tourists posing for photos.

Fortunately some of the phone boxes are being given a new lease of life thanks to a scheme to convert them into solar-powered mobile phone charging stations called Solarbox, the first of which was unveiled on Tottenham Court Road in central London this week. Initially six telephone boxes are receiving a makeover, which will see them painted green, fitted with charging tech inside and have solar panels plonked on the top.

"Our idea was born out of our interest in the use of public space and renewable energy and is all about providing a service that people really need. We've all been caught out -- phone battery life just can't keep up with the pace of our modern lives," said Kirsty Kenney, one of the Solarbox creators.

Kenney, along with Harold Craston, is one of the two LSE graduates turned entrepreneurs behind the scheme. The pair were runners up in the Mayor of London's Carbon Entrepreneur prize. The Boris Johnson seal of approval plus the prize money has helped them kickstart the project, which we hope will expand throughout the capital.

Commenting on the launch in his typical pseudo-luddite style, Johnson said: "In our modern world, where hardly any Londoner is complete without a raft of personal electronic gizmos in hand, it's about time our iconic phone boxes were updated for the 21st Century, to be more useful, more sustainable, and just as striking with a marvellous new green makeover."

-wired.co.uk