According to new U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) data, nearly half of all LEED certifications in its eight-year history have occurred in 2009 (2089 of the 4,327 LEED-certified projects in existence). That number may actually top 50% since those numbers were only through December 5, 2009.

Forty-two percent of the registrations (11,172/26,385) also occurred in 2009.

If the numbers hold, I expect 3,000 new LEED certifications in 2010. It will be interesting to see if that number holds up, given the state of the economy.

The 2009 numbers are through Dec. 5, 2009: