Thermal Efficiency

AERCON AAC has excellent thermal insulation properties. It can help reduce building heating and cooling costs due to the material’s low thermal conductivity.

Thermal protection in buildings directly influences energy use for heating and cooling and the ability to control the room climate. Less thermal protection results in more energy usage for heating and cooling and a much less comfortable room environment. AERCON AAC optimally combines the material properties necessary to provide excellent thermal energy efficiency for the building. Additional thermal protection is not required. Its ability to effectively regulate the temperature results in lower energy consumption and reduced carbon emissions over the life of the building. 

Its ability to effectively regulate the temperature in a building results in lower energy consumption and reduced carbon emissions over the life of the building.

AERCON AAC also provides a nearly airtight envelope, critical in controlling a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. A major emphasis in heating and cooling system design is to minimize “uncontrolled” ventilation air.

Comparing R-Value

To compare an AERCON AAC exterior wall with conventional wall construction methods (wood stud frame and concrete masonry), the Florida Solar Energy Center determined equivalent R-values for an AERCON wall. Weather data for Orlando, Florida, as developed in the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY 1981) database, served as the basis for the outside conditions. It was assumed that only diffuse radiation would be present on the outside wall surfaces to uncouple the effect of wall orientation.

The study included calculations for six conditions: average winter and summer days, peak days, and cooling and heating seasons. The study compared an 8-inch thick AERCON AAC wall to a conventional wood stud frame wall and a CMU block wall. The calculated static R- and U-values, neglecting thermal mass effects, are shown in Table 1.

The results of the study, which include the thermal mass effects, are shown in Table 2. They represent the insulation value required to be added to a wood stud frame wall or a CMU block wall to achieve an equivalent thermal system.

For example, during an average summer day, the 8-inch AERCON AAC wall performs like a wood stud frame wall insulated with R-20.4 fiberglass batt insulation or an 8-inch CMU block wall insulated with R-8.6 rigid insulation. That means that nearly 6 inches of batt insulation would have to be added to a wood stud frame wall and over 2 inches of rigid polystyrene insulation to a CMU block wall to equal the performance of the AERCON wall.