Nation's First Solar Cafe To Open In Evanston

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston will soon welcome the first solar café in the U.S.

Described as a Capital One Café, but for solar energy, the Windfree Solar Cafewill offer drip coffee, espresso drinks, kombucha and nitro coffee on tap, as well as delicious pre-made food from local restaurants and bakeries. Customers can also get customized solar energy quotes for their homes or commercial building.

The Windfree Solar Café, 517 Dempster St., came about after a successful educational webinar series ,where customers were given gift cards to local coffee shops after tuning in. At the new cafe, residential and commercial customers will get free drip coffee for life.

"Windfree moved quickly to open the cafe after seeing a big uptick in demand for solar energy since The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier this year. The bill ends all federal residential clean energy tax credits years ahead of schedule — and homeowners and business owners are rushing to go solar before these tax credits expire," officials said in a statement.

The company chose Evanston to house its first café location because of the city's strong clean energy and climate policies, officials said. They pointed to the city's Climate Action and Resilience Plan, passed in 2018, which commits to achieving 100 percent renewable energy in the city by 2030.

Earlier this year, the city became the first in the state to adopt an ordinance that aims to reduce green house gas emissions created by large buildings.

Initially, the café will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday starting Oct. 7, with expanded hours to be announced soon.