Gravesend Resident A Leader In Budding Solar Industry

A Gravesend native is saving our environment.  His secret?  It’s all in the name.

Solar Bawabeh, 31-years-old, of Syrian descent, remembers being teased as a child for his unusual first name, but now his uncommon moniker is the inspiration behind his new company, Solar Rainbow, that installs solar panels and sells the energy to businesses.

“My whole life, people were making fun of my name,” Bawabeh told the Daily News. “But now, it’s an icebreaker in business.”

Bawabeh co-founded Solar Rainbow along with a childhood friend, who also hails from Gravesend.  The company started last spring and rents space on roofs, where workers put in solar panels to generate clean electricity.  They then turn around and sell some of the energy to the building’s tenants at a lower price than they can get from electric utility companies with nuclear or coal-burning power plants.

“They buy it from us for a 30 percent discount, and they’re able to go green, which is very big,” Bawabeh told the Daily News

One of the buildings they’ve partnered with is a Jordache jeans warehouse in New Jersey, and the rig generates enough juice to power 250 homes for a year, Bawabeh told the Daily News.

“We’re overwhelmed with the work we have in New Jersey,” said Bawabeh, “and when the industry picks up in New York, we’ll be the first guys to come back.”