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Existing buildings now have more Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified square feet than newly constructed buildings, the U.S. Green Building Council announced on Wednesday.

The cumulative total of LEED-certified existing building space in December surpassed the square feet of new construction by 15 million square feet. In the past, the stock of LEED-certified projects was overwhelmingly made up of new construction projects, both in volume and size. But interest in certifying building upgrades has been extremely high since the USGBC introduced in 2008.

鈥淭he market is becoming increasingly aware of how building owners can get better performance through green operations and maintenance,鈥� said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO, and founding chair of the USGBC in a statement. 鈥淟EED as a rating system is continuing to evolve an ever greater emphasis on performance, not only in energy, but also water, location, indoor environmental quality, and materials.”

Several iconic buildings this year earned the LEED certification for existing buildings, including the Empire State Building and San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid. The Transamerica Pyramid earned LEED Platinum 39 years after it was originally built, due in large part to an onsite co-generation plant that saves an average of $700,000 annually in energy costs.