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I believe there's a lot of misunderstanding about LEED and green products in general. The speaker that you listened to talk about the VCC sounds like he was talking out of his ass a bit to. There are additional fees to maintaining some systems, but there are others that also can save or make you money. There is a low incoming housing development that was rebuilt outside of Toronto that used a combination of thermal rods and solar panels along with a few other things i don't quite recall now. With the upgrades they had done, the residents no longer have to pay for electricity and sell the excess back to the city. Also with green roofs there is a misconception that the greenery will need to be watered. If done properly there are many plants that can be used in the green roof system where they won't need water for up to a couple of months or get by with very little. As for upgrading structure, there are also systems that can be used without upgrading the roof structure.
I don't know the specifics about what products or systems the convention centre is using, but most projects i know haven't used much or any exterior paints to get LEED credits. Most housing developments i've looked at don't use much exterior paint at all nowadays, they've turned to products like vinyl siding, cmu, masonry and products like Hardie-Panel/Planks which have an integral colour.
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