SOLANA BEACH — Spend an hour with Marty Reed, founder and chief executive officer of Sequoia Solar, and you’ll be seeing green in more ways than one. Reed provides an endless education in energy efficiency, with information on everything from residential and commercial conversions, and hybrid and electric cars, to how going green equates to green through initiatives, rebates, increased property values and lower electric bills.

Start by attending a Saturday workshop at Reed’s Solana Beach office, which ironically used to be a gas station. “It’s old power to the new power,” Reed, whose company is the only solar education center in Southern California, said.

Workshops begin with a six-minute video outlining the basics of solar energy and are followed by a brief tour of the office to learn about initiatives and incentives. The sessions take less than an hour and conclude with a self-guided tour around the outside of the solar-powered building where equipment, facts and information are displayed.

The parking lot includes Sequoia’s hybrid sales vehicles, biodiesel installation trucks and solar carport, which doubles as a shaded parking area and a place where electric car owners can plug in and charge up for free. Reed said he envisions a future in which commercial parking lots are equipped with similar carports, providing an incentive to customers and employees.

With a background in residential real estate and commercial development, Reed had no solar experience before launching Sequoia Solar in January of this year. “But I’m a longtime environmentalist from when I was a kid,” he said. “I’ve been an organic gardener and a recycler since the late ’60s and early ’70s.

“I’ve always been frustrated that renewable energy hadn’t been adopted in the United States,” he said. “Other countries — Germany, Japan, Spain -- are leading the way on this stuff and here we sit in the southwest. No one has better solar in the world.”

Reed started by calculating the costs to convert his home and businesses to solar. Then he researched the topic, attended conferences and connected with CEOs of solar companies. He also advertised for experienced solar professionals in trade magazines and on the Internet.

“Out of that I assembled a team at least as experienced as any other company in the United States and even more experienced than 90 percent of them,” Reed said. He describes his staff of 15 as “top-notch solar veterans” who are experts in installation, design and engineering.

“I felt the time had absolutely arrived,” Reed said. “The California grid is overloaded, especially in hot times during summer. Everybody who goes solar is taking stress off the grid. Every solar panel is pumping power into the grid and decreasing the load, solving the problem of not enough power.”

Sequoia Solar has converted six homes since January and has another half dozen lined up. “We are bidding project after project,” Reed, a Del Mar resident who coincidentally lives on Sun Valley Road, said.

The price of converting to solar depends on the size of the house. Reed estimates a 2,500-square-foot home would cost approximately $40,000. “After the California and federal rebates, it’s going to cost you about $30,000,” he said. “That’s going to supply you about 90 percent of your energy. The payback period (from virtually eliminating electric bills) is eight to 10 years.” Reed said solar improvements add to the value of a home but are not taxable when the house is sold.

Maintenance and replacement costs on the panels are minimal.

“You’ve got to hose them off once or twice a year depending where you live,” Reed said. “These panels degrade very little. It’sabout .05 percent a year. The panels that were installed 20 or 25 years ago are still running. These things go on and on and on. The inverter is the only thing that needs to be replaced.”

The inverter, which converts the DC power produced by solar panels into AC electricity, lasts about 15 years, according to Reed, who said the $4,000 replacement cost is calculated into the eight- to 10-year payback.

Visit www.sequoiasolar.com for more information, including a list of other alternative energy resources and a solar calculator that provides an estimate for price, savings and system size.

“We are eliminating the need for new polluting power plants,” Reed said. “Solar panels are 100 percent clean, locally produced electric power. There are enough rooftops in San Diego County that we can, should and will be exporting energy in the near future, and that’s the mission that we’re on right now.”