Global Policy Review on Embodied Flows: Recommendations for Australian Construction Sector

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. Introduction part is weak. More latest literature review is required to establish the research gap.

2. Include a section of existing energy efficiency policy for building and construction sector of Australia.

3. Clearly present the salient features of building and construction industry policy of developed and developing nations.

4. A comparative table needs to be prepared to understand differences in policies in Australia and other countries.

5. What are the challenges faced by government to impliment energy efficiency policy.

6. What are the opportunities that Australia have to use energy efficiency policies in construction sector.

7 what are other technologies that can overcome embodied carbon emmision from construction sector.

8 Future plans of Australian governments to mitigate these challenges need to be discussed.

9. A section must be there which briefly discusses about building codes followed in Australia.

 

Author Response

Authors highly appreciate reviewer's comments and insights on the manuscript and have now incorporated them in the revised version.

Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

1) Objective 2 of the study indicates the aspect of the investigation of relevant global codes and standards on their effectiveness and then to provide recommendations to improve the current codes as per Objective 3.

2) The materials and methods of the study do not provide a scientifically underpinning analytically supported method for capturing the effectiveness in making the recommendations, employing the collected information.

3) The presented recommendations appear very generic and do not appear to be stemming out from the method elaborated

4) Method of addressing the research question in line 220 should be explicit and appear clearly in the manuscript supported by scientific evidence.

5) Unable to see the novelty in the study in the absence of a proper scientific approach supporting the applicability to the Australian case

6) Suggesting incorporating some level of quantification of the effectiveness enabling to make evidence-based recommendations 

Author Response

Authors highly appreciate reviewer's comments and insights on the manuscript and have now incorporated them in the revised version.

Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The weakness point of this study are listed below

Abstract

-          Line 12-13: “The Australian Building Codes Board has implemented ‘Energy Efficiency’ standards through the National Construction Codes?” why use “?”. Please check

-          Line 19-19 “ To uncover trends….” Is not clear. Please check.

Introduction

-          Line 172: “There is a noticeable gap for the energy efficiency policy in Australia”.

Recently, the energy efficiency policy in Australia are covered by many studies. So, the research gap should be more specific.

-          More recent references are highly required for such study

Materials and Methods

-          Line 194:” government publications” what do you mean. Please explain.

-          Figure 1 need more explain to be more understandable for the reader.

-          More detailed information are required for the research methodology.

Results

-          Line 259: “Canada has almost double the rate of warming, 259 according to the Canadian government” references are required. Also, Line 266-267 need a references.

-          In this section, some information need a references. Please double check

Conclusion

-          Conclusions is too long. I recommended to summarized the conclusion and re-write as a bolt point

Author Response

Authors highly appreciate reviewer's comments and insights on the manuscript and have now incorporated them in the revised version.

Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors performed a qualitative document analysis using data from academic articles and industry publications. Findings reveal an abundance of different legislations and initiatives globally. The results highlighted that Australia needs to capitalize on the potential reductions in overall energy and emissions from the construction.

 

The description of this paper is clear and the logic is sound. The conclusions are good. I recommend to publish this work.

Author Response

Authors highly appreciate reviewer's recommendation of manuscript for publication.

Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accepted. Manuscript has been significantly improved.