Effect of Leaf Area Index on Green Facade Thermal Performance in Buildings

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper addresses the issue of the effect of green facades on the cooling requirement of the building, by monitoring some parameters, respectively by integrating these parameters in mathematical models to evaluate shading effect and evapotranspiration.

It would be interesting to integrate obtained the results in the energy analysis of the experimental building or for a regular size building. How much is reduced the cooling requirement of the building, especially since a heat pump was used to cool it (thus, consuming energy for air conditioning)?

Photos with the experimental stand could be added, in order to visualize LAI = 4.11 for the experimental GF.

Very interesting results obtained related to LAI variation.

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper is about the Effect of LAI on green façade thermal performance in buildings. Interesting and good Results part. Please see bellow my suggestions.

Never use abbreviations in the title. Please replace LAI with leaf area index. When researchers are searching for papers/documentation, they are searching usually after key words.

Please check the Instructions for authors at Sustainability https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/instructions  and revise the entire manuscript, explaining each abbreviation accordingly: 

• "Acronyms/Abbreviations/Initialisms should be defined the first time they appear in each of three sections: the abstract; the main text; the first figure or table. When defined for the first time, the acronym/abbreviation/initialism should be added in parentheses after the written-out form."
• Considering the above, notation list must be removed.

L102-106. Please develop the novelty of your research or the special aspects it brings to the field.

2. Materials and Methods. Please provide a photo (as figure) of the green facade in discussion. 

Please replace the term "façade" with "facade", which is the correct word in English.

Discussion. Sentence L254 needs reference(s). L256. "Many researchers" implies references to be cited. So, the entire paragraph it is not supported at all by any reference. Please complete. Moreover, it must be underlined the importance of the GF for assuring a healthy living environment - develop this idea. Please check and refer to Prada M., et al. New solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency of buildings of special importance – Hospitals. Sci. Tot. Environ., 718, 2020, ID 137466, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137446; Bungău, C.C.; et al. Design and Operation of Constructions: A Healthy Living Environment-Parametric Studies and New Solutions. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6824. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236824

As the last part of this section, please describe the strengths and limitations (if there is any) of your study.

Conclusions. Usually is a single paragraph. Please compress it.

 

 

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The study is really interesting, but contribution to existing literature is unclear. Therefore, in my opinion, I do find that the paper should be improved before it will be can be considered worthy of publication. I have several concerns as reported below that authors should address the next time.

• The contributions of this paper to the existing literature are not clearly highlighted. How do the authors advance the knowledge compared to the existing literature? What do the authors propose to differentiate their work from the current literature? I do not find the answer to these questions throughout the manuscript. Are the authors strictly rely on the existing literature or do they propose some novelties? The statement of contributions and the difference with current literature should be better emphasized for publication in this high-quality journal.
• The literature review should be concise and possibly confined in one section, thus the reader can better understand the related gaps and how the paper aims to address these gaps.
• The acronym should be made explicited the first time it is mentioned.

Author Response

 "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

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