Source: go-green.ae
Published: October 3, 2014
Although passers-by can use these solarboxes for free, adverts will be broadcast as they wait for the device to charge.
London’s red telephone boxes of yore are largely disused, although recent initiatives have seen some converted into miniature libraries or equipped with emergency medical equipment.
This is the phone box’s highest-tech renovation revolution, with the chosen boxes painted green and fitted with a roof-mounted solar panel.
A converted booth, called a “solarbox” can charge up to 100 phones a day. The station comes equipped with chargers for a number of cell phone devices. Inside there is a variety of phone charging ports for a range of smartphone models, as well as a screen that displays ads.
The project was the brainchild of two geography students turned entrepreneurs Harold Craston and Kirsty Kenny.
Both studied at the London School of Economics and were interested in finding new ways to use public spaces.
“I lived next to a phone box in my second year at university and walked past it every day. I thought, ‘There are 8,000 of these lying unused in London and we must be able to find a use for them,'” explained Craston.