Expanded Shale, Clay and Slate Institute
2225 Murray-Holladay Road
Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 • 801-272-7070 • Fax: 801-272-3377

Information Sheet 3530

March, 2000

Life Cycle Energy Cost Analysis

Shows That SmartWall Systems® Provides

Significant Savings in All Climates

SmartWall Systems® is a

concrete masonry wall system

that outperforms other

masonry and non-masonry

wall systems. SmartWall

Systems® offers superior

performance, especially in

terms of energy efficiency,

maintenance, appearance, fire

resistance, durability, and

strength to weight ratio.

The built-in thermal resistance

and low thermal bridging of

SmartWall Systems® saves

energy in both warm and cold

climates.

The Life Cycle Cost analysis

illustrated in the graph uses

local climate data and energy

costs for heating and cooling,

and show the significant life

cycle energy cost savings The analysis compares Life Cycle Costing analysis

achieved by SmartWall SmartWall Systems concrete illustrated above is shown on

Systems®. In many cases the masonry units at 90 lb/ft³ the following pages. For more

present value of these savings density to ordinary 135 lb/ft³ information about SmartWall

will pay for the SmartWall units. Units are standard Systems®, contact the Expanded

System® itself. For example, 8" x 8" x 16" dimensions. The Shale, Clay, and Slate Institute

The analysis shows that a analysis uses steady-state heat office or any ESCSI member.

SmartWall building in Omaha flow calculations.

saves $1.15 per block over the

first ten years of the building’s Detailed information on the

life, and $2.86 over a thirty- thermal values, energy costs

year period. and the methodology of the

Life Cycle Energy Cost Savings by City

For Ten and Thirty Year Periods

With Climate and Energy Costs

	Atlanta	Boston	Chicago	Cleveland	Dallas-Ft Worth	Denver	El Paso	Houston
Climate (WSO unless noted otherwise) ^(1) Heating degree Days HDD65 Cooling Degree Hours CDH74 Energy Costs Fall 1999^(2) Natural Gas (for heating) $/mcf Electricity (for cooling) $/kwh	3025 16803 $5.93 $0.070	5596 5358 $7.23 $0.100	6459 6606 $4.97 $0.081	6179 4772 $6.23 $0.095	2420 36294 $4.58 $0.064	6023 5908 $4.06 $0.055	2672 22966 $4.58 $0.094	1548 30474 $4.58 $0.068
Total LCC Savings @ 10 Years, $ / block Total LCC Savings @ 30 Years, $ / block	$0.82 $2.05	$1.59 $3.96	$1.28 $3.18	$1.51 $3.76	$0.71 $1.76	$0.96 $2.40	$0.73 $1.82	$0.53 $1.31

	Indianapolis	Los Angeles	Memphis	Miami	Milwaukee	Minneapolis	New Orleans	New York JFK
Climate (WSO unless noted otherwise) ^(1) Heating degree Days HDD65 Cooling Degree Hours CDH74 Energy Costs Fall 1999^(2) Natural Gas (for heating) $/mcf Electricity (for cooling) $/kwh	5653 9082 $5.44 $0.065	1595 4306 $6.26 $0.095	3214 24504 $6.11 $0.062	198 39401 $6.59 $0.065	7327 3313 $4.89 $0.064	8010 6806 $4.40 $0.066	1311 32758 $5.65 $0.070	5171 7634 $6.49 $0.128
Total LCC Savings @ 10 Years, $ / block Total LCC Savings @ 30 Years, $ / block	$1.23 $3.07	$0.43 $1.06	$0.93 $2.32	$0.93 $0.92	$1.38 $3.43	$1.38 $3.45	$0.56 $1.41	$1.39 $3.46

	Omaha	Phoenix	Raleigh	Sacramento	St. Louis	Salt Lake City	Seattle- Tacoma	Tulsa
Climate (WSO unless noted otherwise) ^(1) Heating degree Days HDD65 Cooling Degree Hours CDH74 Energy Costs Fall 1999^(2) Natural Gas (for heating) $/mcf Electricity (for cooling) $/kwh	6201 13180 $4.53 $0.054	1444 54404 $5.95 $0.080	3538 11845 $6.62 $0.064	2775 10464 $6.26 $0.083	4948 17843 $5.66 $0.061	5805 9898 $4.35 $0.056	5122 1050 $4.73 $0.062	3741 26468 $5.23 $0.046
Total LCC Savings @ 10 Years, $ / block Total LCC Savings @ 30 Years, $ / block	$1.15 $2.86	$0.87 $2.17	$0.98 $2.43	$0.76 $1.90	$1.19 $2.97	$1.02 $2.54	$0.92 $2.29	$0.89 $2.22

LCC Savings Comparison between 90 pcf SmartWall units and ordinary 135 pcf masonry units. All units 8" x 8" x 16". This analysis uses steady-state heat flow

calculations, and does not include the effects of thermal mass. An example of the calculation details is shown on the next page.

References for this page and the following page:

(1) Appendix A, Climatic Data for the US and Canada, ASHRAE 90.2, 1993.

(2) Natural Gas Costs: Natural Gas Monthly, US Department of Energy –

Energy Information Administration, October, 1999. Table 22, page 57-59.

Commercial gas costs by state were used for the most recent complete year

available. Contact ESCSI for details.

Electricity Cost: Electric Sales and Revenue 1998, US Department of Energy –

Energy Information Administration, October 1999, Table 15. Commercial

Average Rates for the Utility serving the selected city.

(3) R-values for Single Wythe Concrete Masonry Walls, TEK 6-2A, National

Concrete Masonry Association, 1996. The R-value is interpolated for 90 pcf.

Values are for unreinforced walls. For walls with 32" o/c vertical grouting and

reinforcing, the difference in U values between a 90 lb/ft³ wall and 135 lb/ft³

wall drops to 0.153, a 2.5% reduction. Life cycle savings will be reduced by a

similar amount. Calculation procedures for grouted walls are shown in the

referenced NCMA TEK.

(4) The 2% nominal discount rate was chosen as appropriate for this analysis

because it represents the typical long-term two percent difference between

short-term US T-bill rates and the CPI inflation rate. See Office of Management

and Budget Circular A-94 Guidelines and Discount Rates for Benefit-Cost

Analysis of Federal Programs.

This analysis was developed by Buildex Inc. for use with permission by members of the Expanded Shale, Clay, and Slate Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah and is

© 2000 ESCSI. This March 2000 edition replaces earlier versions of this publication, which used different furnace efficiencies and cooling SEER and a less

comprehensive source of commercial electricity costs.

Life Cycle Energy Cost Analysis

Present Value of Annual Energy Cost Savings Using SmartWall Systems®

Over a Thirty Year Period

Wall construction: Location:

Single wythe 8" w/foamed in place core insulation Omaha, Nebraska

R Value Data	CMU Density
	135 lb/ft ³	105 lb/ft³	90 lb/ft³
R value ^(3) Calc: U value	3.40 0.294	5.60 0.179	7.30 0.137
Calc: Difference in U values (vs 135 lb/ft³)	---	0.116	0.157

R-value in (hr – ft² - ºF) / BTU. U value in BTU / (hr – ft² - ºF)

The following analysis makes two comparisons. The left column compares lightweight units meeting ASTM C90 at

105 lb/ft³ to ordinary 135 lb/ft³ units. The second comparison (in the right hand column) is between a SmartWall

Systems® unit at 90 lb/ft³ and the same 135 lb/ft³ unit. All units are conventional 8" x 8" x 16" size. The analysis

Shows that SmartWall Systems® units save substantial energy costs when compared to both ordinary 135 lb/ft³

units and regular ASTM C 90 lightweight units.

	ASTM Lightweight 105 lb / ft³ CMU	SmartWall 90 lb / ft³ CMU
Heating Cost Calculations U value difference vs. 135 lb / ft³ cmu (from above) Natural Gas Cost ^(2) per mcf Furnace efficiency Calc: $ Cost per Btu output Heating Degree Days for This Location ^(1) Calc: Energy Savings: $ / sq ft / yr Calc: Energy Savings: $ / block / yr Present Worth of Heating Savings n (years) i (nominal rate – energy and money)^(4)	0.116 $4.53 0.80 5.66E – 06 6201 $0.0974 $0.0866 30 2.00%	0.157 $4.53 0.80 5.66E – 06 6201 $0.1324 $0.1177 30 2.00%
Calc: Present Worth of Heating Energy Savings, $ / block	$1.94	$2.64

Cooling Cost Calculations Electricity Cost ^(2) per kwh SEER Cooling Degree Hours for This Location ^(1) Calc: Energy Savings: $ / sq ft / yr Calc: Energy Savings: $ / block / yr Present Worth of Cooling Savings n (years) i (nominal rate – energy and money) ^(4)

$0.0538 10 13180 $0.0082 $0.0073