Smartphone-charging exercise desks arrive at Amsterdam Airport

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has installed desks that enable passengers to charge their devices through pedal power while they wait for their plane.

It’s always a pain to have to go hunting for a place to charge your phone, especially if you need to stay put in a particular location. We recently wrote about Soofa, the Boston-based company that’s hoping to place solar phone-charging benches in city parks, and now Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has installed desks that enable passengers to charge their devices through pedal power while they wait for their plane.

The devices are provided by Belgium-based WeWATT, which has previously been featured on Springwise when it first began trialling the WeBIKE table in meeting spaces. The desks are equipped with pedals attached to dynamos, that convert physical exertion into energy. The energy created is then used to power devices in an environmentally-friendly way. In an area typically devoid of outlets, the initiatives let those on long layovers to get some work done, while also keeping themselves fit.

Watch the video below to see what customers think of the desks at Schiphol Airport:

As well as Schiphol, the desks are also being installed at Brussels Airport and various railway stations around Europe. Are there other venues that could benefit from the use of these eco charging points?