Take a seat and let the sun charge your phone
19-11-2015 | By Paul Whytock
Solar powered Smart Benches are now being tried in locations at Canary Wharf in London's Docklands area. As well as re-charging mobiles, tablets and music players, the Strawberry Smart Benches track air quality and noise levels in the surrounding area and include an emergency call button linked to the Canary Wharf Help Estate Centre.
Two companies have collaborated on the venture, Strawberry Energy, the inventors of the Smart Bench and wireless charging specialists, Aircharge.
The launch in Canary Wharf is the first in a planned implementation across London and the UK.
This high-tech street furniture was recently chosen as a winner of the ‘connecting people and creating communities’ competition, organised by the Institute for Sustainability in partnership with the Mayor of London’s Office and supported by EIT Digital.
All existing and future installations of Strawberry Smart Benches will include Aircharge wireless chargers, in addition to corded power, which will allow users with Qi wireless charging enabled devices to place their handset on the chargers and re-charge their battery.
Both companies have mobile apps. The Aircharge Qi wireless charging locator app can guide users to their nearest available Qi wireless charger and the Strawberry Energy app provides location information Strawberry Smart Benches.
