IKEA has teamed up with social business Little Sun to help customers engage family and friends about solar energy. The conversation starter comes in the form of a solar-powered lamp called “SAMMANLÄNKAD.” It consists of two solar-powered LED lamps that capture solar energy to power other devices.
The sun and the Earth’s angle inspired the lamp’s design. The light source represents the sun, which is the shape of a half-sphere, enhanced through a mirror reflection that creates a shining effect. The unique design is meant to raise questions from onlookers and start conversations about the need for renewable energy sources. It helps that the lamp functions as a power source to charge everyday items like smartphones and other chargeable devices.
Of his creation, SAMMANLÄNKAD designer Philipp Käfer said, “I think the massive solar panels and tiny solar lamps are the most common approaches to solar energy. Many people don’t have a real feeling or understanding for the possibilities to implement it at a medium level yet, where it can make a tangible difference in their daily life.”
Käfer explained his design further by stating, “It has this heliocentric energy and our planet’s orbit around it in the first gyroscope ring at a 23.5-degree angle, which is the axis of the Earth in relation to the sun. And the light, a half-ball, is completed by a mirror to become a full ball, like the sun at its centre.”
The new solar-powered lamps will go on sale in selected IKEA markets in April.
Source: IKEA
