TL;DR: When Cabling Starts to Matter for LEED

In most Canadian LEED projects, low-voltage cabling is treated as “just Cat6” — lots of copper, plastic and power bricks that never show up in credit narratives. A POE-Jack® + GRID Networking design turns that into a LEED asset by using in-wall PoE switches (active PoE wall plates) and high-performance 23-AWG bulk Cat6e plenum cable to cut material and centralise power.

• Dematerialising cabling: up to ~75% fewer copper home runs, patch cords, patch panels and conduit compared to four-drop-per-desk designs in offices, MDUs and mixed-use towers.
• Eliminating power bricks: a central PoE core replaces hundreds of AC/DC adapters behind TVs, under desks and above ceilings.
• Standardising on low-toxicity cabling: 23-AWG Cat6e plenum with Red List–aware construction and wide temperature range, instead of a patchwork of generic Cat6.
• Preparing for DC and smart-building strategies: DC microgrid-ready PoE layouts that support lighting, sensors, controls, signage and IT loads from the same structured cabling.

When you add it up, a POE-Jack® design can support LEED Materials & Resources (MR), Energy & Atmosphere (EA), Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Innovation narratives in a way that is easy to quantify, document and defend to reviewers.

Quick Answer: Why POE-Jack® for LEED v4/v5?

POE-Jack® turns LEED network cabling from a hidden liability into a visible sustainability win. Instead of pulling four copper home runs to every workstation and powering equipment with dozens of AC/DC bricks, a POE-Jack®/GRID design uses one 23-AWG Cat6e home run feeding an Active PoE wall plate (an “in wall poe switch” / PoE wall jack), plus centralised PoE switches and bulk Cat6e plenum cabling.

That combination:

• Reduces copper, plastic and metal in risers and plenums by collapsing jacks into zone-based in-wall PoE switches like APOEJK2-WH.
• Consolidates power into high-efficiency GRID PoE cores such as POEJK-S48-3600 or POEJK-S48-750E.
• Uses POEJC6E-CMP 23-AWG bulk Cat6e universal CMP cabling to simplify MR documentation.
• Builds a documented, DC microgrid–ready topology that supports LEED v4/v5 MR, EA, IEQ and Innovation stories in Canadian projects.

Who This Guide Is For

• Architects and lead designers on LEED v4/v5 projects in Canada who need Division 27 to align with the overall sustainability narrative.
• LEED consultants and sustainability teams preparing documentation, narratives and credit strategies for MR, EA, IEQ and Innovation.
• Electrical and low-voltage engineers writing Division 26/27 specs and coordinating riser, tray and telecom-room requirements.
• Owners and facility managers who want future-proof, DC-ready PoE infrastructure rather than another “Cat6 everywhere” design that is hard to defend in LEED submissions.

GRID / POE-Jack® Combos for LEED-Focused Projects

These patterns give you concrete ways to use POE-Jack® in-wall PoE switches and GRID cabling to support LEED narratives in Canadian projects.

These tables can be turned directly into Division 27 basis-of-design notes and LEED narratives that attach to your submissions and owner presentations.

Where Network Cabling Shows Up in LEED v4/v5

LEED v4/v5 does not have a credit called “Amazing Structured Cabling,” but low-voltage and PoE-first designs quietly influence several categories:

• Materials & Resources (MR): total quantity of copper, plastics, metals and associated packaging in horizontal cabling, patch panels, jacks and power supplies.
• Energy & Atmosphere (EA): efficiency of power delivery when hundreds of small AC/DC adapters are replaced with centralised PoE and DC microgrid elements.
• Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): cable mass and heat in plenums and risers, plus how low-voltage equipment is distributed within occupied spaces.
• Innovation (IN): DC microgrids, smart-building readiness and resilient low-voltage power strategies often live here in the form of pilot credits or exemplary performance.

That means a POE-Jack® / GRID design doesn’t magically award points, but it gives you defensible, quantifiable improvements that can strengthen multiple credit submissions and narratives.

Materials & Resources: Dematerialising Cabling

1) Fewer home runs, patch cords, panels and trays

A conventional four-drop-per-desk design pulls four horizontal cables, lands four ports in the rack and adds patch cords and tray capacity for each one — even when only one or two ports are ever used. With POE-Jack®, you pull one 23-AWG Cat6e home run to an Active PoE wall plate such as APOEJK2-WH, which then serves 2–4 active devices locally as an in-wall PoE switch.

Across a full floor, that can reduce:

• Total horizontal cable length by up to ~75%.
• Number of patch-panel ports, patch cords and jack modules required.
• Tray width and depth requirements in risers and corridors.
• Wall-box count, especially in open offices and flexible spaces.

2) Better cable choice: one universal specification

By standardising on a cable like POEJC6E-CMP — 23-AWG bulk Cat6e universal CMP with wide temperature rating — you simplify MR documentation:

• One primary cable type to track for EPD and HPD documentation.
• Consistent PoE++ performance across office, MDU, healthcare and education areas.
• Clear story for a “universal Cat6e cable” in MR credit narratives.

Energy & Atmosphere: PoE vs Power Bricks

1) Centralised PoE vs hundreds of AC/DC adapters

Every time you replace an AC/DC wall wart with a port on a high-efficiency PoE switch, you improve the building’s electrical efficiency and reduce parasitic losses. A POE-Jack® design:

• Consolidates device power into high-efficiency PoE switchgear in the IDF or MDF.
• Allows easier integration with UPS, generators and energy monitoring systems.
• Enables DC microgrid strategies where appropriate, especially for IoT and controls.

2) Less overbuilt cooling and electrical distribution

Reducing cable bundles and distributed power bricks also helps avoid overbuilding cooling and branch circuits in equipment rooms and ceilings. A cleaner, PoE-first topology makes it easier for MEP teams to right-size:

• Electrical panels and branch circuits feeding low-voltage spaces.
• Cooling for telecom, AV and control rooms.
• UPS and battery capacity dedicated to network and control loads.

Indoor Environmental Quality & Plenums

Low-voltage cabling influences IEQ in subtle ways that add up across a floor plate:

• Plenum air quality: less cable mass means fewer materials in air-handling spaces and simpler documentation for material health and fire/smoke profiles.
• Heat and clutter: fewer power supplies and random switches above ceilings reduces heat sources and potential maintenance disruptions.
• Visual noise: centralised PoE and POE-Jack® wall plates reduce the need for exposed raceway, wall packs and visible wiring in occupied spaces.

None of these individually “win” an IEQ point, but together they strengthen the story that the building’s technology infrastructure was designed with occupant wellbeing and maintainability in mind.

Innovation: DC Microgrids & Smart Buildings

Many Canadian teams are exploring DC microgrids, smart-building platforms and all-electric strategies. POE-Jack® fits naturally into those experiments:

• A DC-centric network backbone with PoE switches and POE-Jack® in-wall PoE switches aligns with DC-first thinking for devices like sensors, controllers, touch panels, signage and small computing loads.
• A consistent PoE infrastructure makes it much easier to roll out building analytics, occupancy sensing and control systems later.
• Documented PoE and POE-Jack® zones give smart-building teams a clear map of “where low-voltage power lives” in the building.

These elements can support an Innovation credit or pilot strategy when combined with metering and documented performance improvements.

How to Write POE-Jack® into Division 27 Specs

1) Keep it performance-based, not vendor-locked

LEED reviewers prefer performance-based specs. You can still design around POE-Jack® while keeping language neutral, for example:

• “Provide active PoE wall plate switches (in-wall PoE switches) capable of powering a minimum of four ports from a single 23-AWG Cat6e home run.”
• “Structured cabling topology shall support a minimum 50% reduction in horizontal copper runs compared to a four-drops-per-workstation baseline.”
• “All cabling in plenum spaces shall be Red List–aware and rated −40 °C to +75 °C.”

2) Add clear basis-of-design notes

Then add POE-Jack® and GRID products as the basis-of-design in the spec appendix or schedules:

• Active PoE wall plate (in wall poe switch): APOEJK2-WH or approved equivalent.
• Core PoE switch: POEJK-S48-3600 or POEJK-S48-750E, or approved equivalent.
• Horizontal bulk Cat6e cable: POEJC6E-CMP or approved equivalent.
• Patch panels and LED jacks: POEJKPP6-24 + GRID keystones or approved equal.

3) Include LEED-aligned notes in the drawings

On your drawings, call out:

• POE-Jack® zones and active wall plates (symbol and schedule) to make dematerialisation visible.
• Reduced riser counts and smaller tray requirements for telecom shafts compared to baseline.
• Any DC or PoE-backed critical loads that tie into resiliency and EA stories.

When POE-Jack® Is (and Isn’t) the LEED Answer

Great fit for

• Open office, MDU, mixed-use, healthcare and education projects in Canada.
• Deep energy retrofits where dematerialisation and DC readiness matter.
• Owners who want flexibility, smart-building options and PoE-first DC microgrid potential.

Use selectively when

• You have specialised environments (labs, studios, trading floors) that warrant dedicated, non-zoned cabling and very high bandwidth.
• Security or regulatory requirements demand strict one-to-one home runs for certain devices.
• The project is extremely cost-constrained and will not invest in centralised PoE infrastructure.

In practice, many LEED projects use POE-Jack® for 80–90% of the floor area, with a few traditional exceptions carved out where clearly justified.

FAQ: LEED Network Cabling with POE-Jack®

If you’re working on a specific LEED project in Canada, you can treat this guide as a Division 27 sustainability blueprint: adapt the patterns, quantify the reductions and attach the results to your LEED submissions.