My parents are talking about putting solar panels up on their house. I give them a big thumbs-up for the thought. They've kind of unofficially tasked me to do the research, so I'm going to use this thread both for discussions (especially w Ozzygoddess) and as a central repository of data collection and progress.

To start off, this is a great write-up from people who have actually done it:
http://256.com/solar/

The write-up is great, and the links at the bottom look promising too. I'm including those links here -- in case the page above seems to go down for whatever reason.
http://jpjt.net/solar/
http://www.baber.org/Example_Babers_93711.html
http://www.madpower.com/solar/
http://nit.colorado.edu/land/

Oh blah. I don't have time for all this.

Another thought.... perhaps it would also be worthwhile to look at the house bills and see where the big losses are. That is, this would reduce the electrical bills, but isn't the gas bill higher? Lets also take a look at improving the house's insulation and other such issues.

This is a government-sponsored DIY energy audit:
http://hes.lbl.gov/

Remind me to look into this stuff later. I'm very interested in solar power. Even up here in the grayest part of the country, solar power actually pays itself off (i.e. in lower power bills). I don't know what incentives UT has. I think California has the best, but that makes sense considering their ridiculous, perennial power outage problems. Anywho. Must look into this. Hey, do you think my coffee shop can have solar panels?

Generally speaking they say that the financial "break even" point on a solar panel investment is on the order of about 7 years. When talking about my parent's house, I recommended that a better investment may be improved insulation as it would give them more bang-for-the-buck.

But certainly... any coffee shop you decide to make can have whatever you think would help. I think solar panels would be a great attraction to posh, hippie coffee drinkers. The only issue is going to be justifying putting it on a leased property (perhaps you can go-in on it with the owner), or obtaining the income to outright buy some appropriate commercial property.

If you're serious about launching your own coffee shop, I encourage you to brainstorm both on your own and publicly. Lets talk about your projected market and your "edge" that you'll have on competition. The solar panels would be one great selling point if you were trying to appeal to the "green" crowd. Just make sure that your location has a high enough population density of said "green crowd" people.

I'm certainly happy to help you draft a business proposal when you're ready to get the rubber on the road. I have a couple of sources who have looked over many proposals before and would be useful for proofreading and polishing and such.

Unless something magically delicious happens, the earliest I will be able to do this is in a decade.

I should probably just stop thinking about it because I get excited about the idea and then reality sets in and I get sad.

Yeah, I thought about the solar panel thing on a leased building (and the logistics of that). I didn't, however, think about attracting customers with it. It was really just for me. Hmm...I'm not sure I want to be attracting uppity people. I was kind of trying to figure out how to not alienate anyone/make anyone feel unwelcome. Anywho. So, I guess I will need to think harder about who I want to attract. I think I might be like a clothing store I read about: they are "socially responsible," but that's not what they put in the ads. They sell their clothes with "sex" like everyone else, but they have this "secret" ethical foundation. I will TRICK people into being sustainable!!! lol.

I thought about taking business-type classes (i.e. nights), especially the ones geared toward small-businesses, and talking to 1)coffee shop owners, 2)people who run businesses out of their home, such as the flower shop that sells espresso on 6th Ave (because my first coffee shop might just have to be out of my home), 3)start reading up more on interesting entrepreneurial stuff (in the mags that come across my desk at work), 4)start doing my homework on coffee, 5)talk to my favorite baristas about what they do (a lot of the owners don't actually make the coffee/ do the drudgery, but I want to know how it all works), etc.

Unfortunately, I got a little derailed because I became afraid that I would be supporting an extra person (or two), so I mentally put all of these ideas/goals on hold. But, even though I have been derailed, I'm still mulling it over. *sigh*

I think I have a couple of huge obstacles, the main one being money-- financing a coffee shop (especially one that is a sit-down shop rather than a drive-thru) takes a ton of money. If anyone knows of good ways to get money, without robbing a bank, let me know.

I don't think any bank will lend me the money for all of it, so I will need investors/donations/grants(can you get grants for a for-profit?)/government incentives(?). I know some cities are trying to rebuild (esp. downtown business areas), so they have awesome incentives to start a business there. However, most of those are cities that have very small populations (at least the ones I looked at), so that wouldn't really work so well for me.

And, time is an issue, or rather my bills are an issue. I need to work a full-time job to pay my bills, and businesses don't generally bring in a profit for the first few years, so how will I pay my personal bills even if the coffee shop is actually covering its own butt (which would be a miracle in and of itself)? I don't think I could work a full-time job and run a coffee shop. Unless, of course, I could somehow get some income doing freelance work, and do it during slow times at the shop... that's the only thing I've been able to come up with as an option. Any other ideas?

That's exactly what small business loans are. I recommend you do some reading into business proposals. You need to do your homework in all those things that you were talking about. Talk to coffee shop owners. Talk to baristas. Find out about getting quality (or cheap -- depending on your strategy) wholesale coffee. I know a couple of baristas here who have some great ideas. Get an idea for your target market first. Next, develop ideas for how to actually target that market. Find out how much it's going to cost up-front, how much it will cost to sustain (INCLUDING PAYING EMPLOYEES SUCH AS YOURSELF), and what kinds of income/profits you project to bring in. Then, from there, project how long it will take for you to overcome your startup costs, and project a reasonable rate of return for your investors. (That is, say you determine you could start up your business with a loan from them of $300k. Can you ensure them that you can give them 8% rate of return within 7 years and ensure them that the risk is low enough?) Your business proposal will take all of your data that you've gathered and schmooze it across a few pages -- proving to the reader that you're well thought-out in your plans, that you're realistic/conservative in your estimates, that you understand your market and your business, and that you have the attitude/determination to make it happen? If so, you might be able to get some investors on board. But in the meantime.... DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!