A Pathway for the German Energy Sector Compatible with a 1.5 °C Carbon Budget
, Mengzhu Xiao 1, Carina Harpprecht 1,2, Shima Sasanpour 1, Hedda Gardian 1 and Thomas Pregger 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Report on the manuscript
Title: A Pathway for the German Energy Sector Compatible with a 1.5°C Carbon Budget
Authors: Sonja Simon, Mengzhu Xiao, Carina Harpprecht, Shima Sasanpour, Hedda Gardian and Thomas Pregger
Manuscript number: sustainability-1523751
This manuscript does not bring any new results.
Under no circumstances can it be called a scientific paper.
There is no statement, no mathematical symbol, no formula.
The manuscript contains just some statistical and numerical considerations and some graphical representations. Data from already published papers are used.
It could be used as a teaching material for students at seminaries.
The level of novelty in this manuscript is far from the claims of a valuable journal as Sustainability is.
Author Response
No reply requested by the asigned journal editor
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper addresses very urgent issues, it is interesting and well-written. The value of the paper is enhanced by the supplements uploaded to Zenodo.
Anyway, there are remarks and other considerations, which have to be considered by the authors:
1) In Figure 2 the authors present the Applied energy system. The model is rather classical; similar models are amply discussed in scientific literature. Therefore the natural question arises, why on the demand side such factor as distribution of income across society is not considered (Gini coefficient). If authors did not include it, they have to extend research limitations. A similar remark could be directed to sectors of the economy: the agricultural sector is omitted;
2) the authors do not discuss obstacles, which hinder renewable energy expansion (stakeholders; unsolved problems, related to recycling of solar energy panels, cybersecurity issues). It would be recommended to introduce a brief section, devoted to those very important issues.
The remarks do not diminish the scientific value of the paper.
Radavičius, T., van der Heide, A., Palitzsch, W., Rommens, T., Denafas, J., Tvaronavičienė, M. 2021. Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes, Insights into Regional Development 3(3), 10-30. https://doi.org/10.9770/IRD.2021.3.3(1)
Nasr, A. K., Kashan, M. K., Maleki, A., Jafari, N., Hashemi, H. 2020. Assessment of Barriers to Renewable Energy Development Using Stakeholders Approach. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 7(3), 2526-2541. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2020.7.3(71)
Plėta, T., Tvaronavičienė, M., Della Casa, S., Agafonov, K. 2020. Cyber-attacks to critical energy infrastructure and management issues: overview of selected cases. Insights into Regional Development, 2(3), 703-715. https://doi.org/10.9770/IRD.2020.2.3(7)
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
In the article "A Pathway for the German Energy Sector Compatible with a 1.5 ° C Carbon Budget" presented the budget-driven energy scenarios for Germany. It was connected the cost optimization model (REMix) and an accounting framework (ESM). The results show that Germany will have to accelerate its energy transition considerably.
The article deals with a very important topic related to sustainable development.
Comments from the Authors:
- the drawings are of very low quality, they are difficult to read,
- no reference to figures and tables in the text, an error comment is provided instead of references,
- please also describe the methodology of the scenarios, no mathematical analysis.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
