Habana Outpost, a restaurant-cum-cultural center, features an open-air market, outdoor movies, great food and drink, and serves as a social hub for the creative and diverse local community. Underlying it all is an ethic of sustainability: The eatery is powered by renewable energy and boasts dozens of green building features.[1]

Solar Panels
The Solar array at Habana Outpost has the capacity to generate 5 kilowatts of electricity.  The array was designed by architect Ronald Evitts and installed by Solar Energy Systems, Inc. in 2005.  It features thirty 167-watt Sharp PV modules mounted as an awning. The system generates over 4,400 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, serves as a swing-set frame, and provides shade and rain cover to restaurant patrons. The system was funded in part by a NYSERDA Energy $mart PV incentive.[2]

Additional Sustainable Design Features
(o) Their is a rainwater harvesting system on the restaurant's roof that captures rain and stores it in cisterns for use in the restaurant's toilets.  In addition, one of the bathroom sinks overflows into a planter that then feeds into the toilet conserving additional water.[3]

(o) The outdoor picnic tables and benches are made of "Trex"-recycled wood and plastic bottles.

(o) The world's first "sunlit chandelier" transmits real sunlight collected on the roof through fiber-optic cables to a fixture inside the restaurant.

(o) Organic waste is composted in a worm bin.

(o) An old postal truck has been revamped as a kitchen.

(o) Recycled sailboat sails cover indoor booths.

(o) You get a dollar off your smoothie if you mix it yourself with the human-powered bicycle blender.

(o) Organic food specials change with the season.

(o) Corn "plastic" cups, potato starch cutlery, and sugarcane plates are all 100% biodegradable.

(o) You can re-charge your phone at the solar-power hookup.