Business Chief US+CAN Magazine July 2016 | Page 11

BUSINESS REVIEW USA & CANADA
Beyond certifying thousands of structures , LEED had also created new markets , especially in the product arena . Before LEED , materials like low-volatile-organic-compound ( VOC ) paints and green cleaning products were virtually non-existent , but by 2009 , these items were in widespread use . The same was true for various other green technologies and energyefficient products , which had become available not only in the commercial sector , but also for homeowners in the residential space .
In 2010 , the Green Building Certification Institute certified the 5,000th LEED project . Additionally , in September 2010 , USGBC launched the Center for Green Schools as a way to drive the transformation of all schools into healthy , sustainable learning environments .
The latest version of LEED , LEED v4 , launched in November 2013 after
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