The Warminster, Pa. facility is designed to be the first new construction project in Bucks County - and only the fourth in eastern Pennsylvania - to receive LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED Platinum is the highest achievable level in the USGBC's sustainability rating system.

The approximately 50,000-square-foot building is being constructed on a 9-acre Brownfield site formerly occupied by the Naval Air Warfare Center.

Work on the solar system will begin in December, and is expected to be finished just prior to the building's completion in the first quarter of 2011.

"We are thrilled to be working with a company with such a strong commitment to green building and sustainability," said Jamie Hahn, managing director of Solis Partners, which is based in Manasquan, N.J.

"As one of Pennsylvania's few LEED platinum-rated buildings, the Vertical Screen headquarters will function as a educational showcase for other businesses that are considering employing innovative green technologies."

Vertical Screen, Inc. is a family of applicant screening companies, founded in 1989, that includes Business Information Group (BIG), which is focused on financial services firms; Certiphi Screening, which serves the healthcare community; and Truescreen, which serves the general business sector. The company is currently headquartered in Southampton, Pa.

The solar system will provide clean, low-cost energy for up to 25 years, serve as a hedge against electricity rate increases and allow Vertical Screen to control the energy portion of its operating budget, Hahn said.

In addition, the solar system will result in reduced fossil fuel consumption, thus contributing to cleaner air, mitigating global warming and increasing national energy security.

The building, which also features a host of other "green" technologies including geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater harvesting, maximized natural day lighting and high-efficiency LED lighting, is expected to consume approximately 50 to 60 percent less energy than a similar-sized traditional office building.

"LEED Platinum certification is, in our view, an ambitious but fully achievable goal, and we expect to reap the benefits of building green for many years to come," said Vertical Screen CEO Tony D'Orazio.

"The building's solar array is an outward symbol of our desire to provide a better environment for our employees and our community, and to help make green buildings - and the clean, renewable energy they provide - more mainstream."

The unique design of the building sets its eco-friendly tone. The building features a barrel-shaped roof, which encloses the maximum amount of space using a minimal amount of surface area. The roof design reduces the contact area that's exposed to the elements, so the building's mechanical systems don't have to work as hard to heat or cool the space.

The roof design determined the type of solar technology used, according to Hahn. Instead of traditional flat "crystalline" solar panels, which would be vulnerable to wind uplift on a curved roof surface, Solis Partners is using innovative Solyndra cylindrical solar panels, which allow wind to naturally flow through the spaces between the cylinders in the panel.

The Solyndra panels, which collect light from a 360-degree photovoltaic surface, are being deployed in conjunction with a reflective, white "cool" roof.

In addition to increasing the efficiency of the solar system by keeping it cooler, the reflective white roof also contributes to energy savings by providing a more efficient building envelope, reducing the building's air conditioning load, Hahn said.

The Vertical Screen building was designed by Philadelphia, Pa.-based Erdy McHenry Architecture, a leader in green building design. Re:Vision Architecture, also based in Philadelphia, was the project's LEED consultant. The Solyndra PV system was purchased and distributed through the Allied Building Products Solar Division, headquartered in East Rutherford, N.J.

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