If you’re at all familiar with our site, you know that installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is a serious investment. System costs are offset considerably by a 30-percent federal renewable energy credit — plus any rebates, credits or other incentives available in your state. Like any investment, solar energy can offer meaningful upside potential. In other words, in the right conditions, solar panels offer a reasonable payback period and a solid return on investment. In the wrong conditions, however, solar may not yet make the most financial sense. (Which doesn’t necessarily mean that a project isn’t worth doing. There are many legitimate non-financial reasons to get solar.) Part of what we do here at GetSolar is to help commercial and residential consumers figure out if — and why — solar energy makes sense for them.

Anyway, I digress. Bottom line of today’s post: Are there low-cost solar options for those who want to tinker with solar technologies but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge with a full-on set of solar panels? Answer: Yes.

This latest solar trinket is a solar-powered LED desk lamp from IKEA, the Swedish purveyor of affordable/stylish home furnishings. Dubbed appropriately enough “Sunnan,” the lamp is wireless, sleek and efficient. Oh, and colorful:

sunnan-ikea

According to the product specs, a solar cell powers up two rechargable AA batteries in 12 hours in full sun. At 20 bucks a pop, you probably can’t go wrong. The light emitting diode (LED) — which uses 70 percent less electricity than conventional incandescent bulbs — is purported to last for 50,000 hours. The one potential bummer: the LEDs are NOT replaceable. Though, 50,000 hours is a boatload of burn time.

Admittedly, low-cost solar options like the Sunnan lamp — or solar attic fans, solar fountains and solar path lights — won’t drive long-term utility savings. Nor will they appreciably offset your carbon emissions. But they may give you a taste of solar that leads to bigger and better things. At very least, they have the potential to provide low-cost, sensible solutions for your home and/or office.

GetSolar challenge: come up with alternative IKEA-sounding names for a (fictional) solar-powered blender. (You know how each product line has a Swedish title?) I’ll start it off: SolamBlend. Awful, I know… I’ll look to you guys to raise the bar.