Statistical Building Energy Model from Data Collection, Place-Based Assessment to Sustainable Scenarios for the City of Milan

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. Authors are advised to provide the novelty of the work explicitly by briefly explaining the previous work done in the field.

2. Authors have extensively briefed the city of Milan in Section 2. The section can be minimized by removing the irrelevant data.

3. Authors have used terms like Paragraph 3.1, Paragraph 3.1.1 etc. However, this is not the right term to utilize here. Authors are advised to use the term Section instead of paragraph.

4. Authors have mentioned that give methodology can be utilized in future studies. However, it is worth to note that whether this model is applicable to all the other locations (Different climatic conditions)?

5. Results should be compared with similar studies reported in open literature.

6. The conclusion can be reframed as it does not present the findings of the work appropriately.

7. Futuristic insight into the work is an important aspect. Authors are advised to add futuristic recommendations at the end of the conclusion.

Author Response

TITLE: Statistical building energy model from data collection, place-based assessment to sustainable scenarios for the City of Milan

AUTHORS: Guglielmina Mutani , Maryam Alehasin, Yasemin Usta , Francesco Fiermonte , and Angelo Mariano

We thank the reviewers for their comments on this work and for the questions and suggestions given, we respond promptly to each comment of the reviewers in the tables below.

Together with the reviewed comments, the authors updated and enhanced the text, adding some useful parts (i.e., the query used in the model) and updating the numbers in some tables (i.e., table 5 and 6).

A file with the answers to reviewers comments' is submitted.

REVIEWER 1

Reviewer’s comment		Answer to the comment	Section, page, figure and/or table
1.1	Authors are advised to provide the novelty of the work explicitly by briefly explaining the previous work done in the field.	Section 3 is reviewed adding the novelty of the work related to the detailed explanation of: the data collection sources (Table 2), the QGIS methodology for the pre-processing and modelling phases and the capability of this place-based assessment of mapping the results which help in explaining better the energy-use at urban scale.	Section 3 (page 4 etc)
1.2	Authors have extensively briefed the city of Milan in Section 2. The section can be minimized by removing the irrelevant data.	Section 2 is synthesized.	Section 2
1.3	Authors have used terms like Paragraph 3.1, Paragraph 3.1.1 etc. However, this is not the right term to utilize here. Authors are advised to use the term Section instead of paragraph.	Corrected.	All over the text (page 4 etc)
1.4	Authors have mentioned that give methodology can be utilized in future studies. However, it is worth to note that whether this model is applicable to all the other locations (Different climatic conditions)?	The applicability of the model for different weather conditions is underlined in section 3. In figure 2 the description of the statistical modelling is described, and the calibration phase consents to reduce the errors in each urban context with various climates	Section 3 (page 4 etc)
1.5	Results should be compared with similar studies reported in open literature.	The results of the model validation, with the achieved MAPE, is considered acceptable compared to reported error averages in the literature. A reference has been added to justify.	Page 26
1.6	The conclusion can be reframed as it does not present the findings of the work appropriately.	The conclusion is revised to include the final results and future applications.	Conclusion
1.7	Futuristic insight into the work is an important aspect. Authors are advised to add futuristic recommendations at the end of the conclusion.	The future application is added to the conclusion, together with enhancing the conclusion to highlight the applicability of the work.	Conclusion

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Review paper

Manuscript number: sustainability-2627930

Article title: Statistical building energy model from data collection, place-based assessment to sustainable scenarios for the City of Milan

 

The article assesses the energy performance of residential buildings in Milan at territorial scale through open-source software to model and calculate various energy-related variables for the prediction of space heating, domestic hot water consumption, and potential solar production.  The methodology and the tools adopted in this work can help to assess the impact of retrofit strategies at the urban scale for the development of sustainable cities and energy policies.

In general, the work is clearly presented. However, although the tools used allow for different assessments and seem potentially very promising, it may be necessary to include in the text a discussion on their main limitations. For example, in the analysis of potential solar production, does the irradiation affecting building roofs take into account shading from surrounding obstructions? In the same analysis, how could be taken into account that the real roofs are not all flat (as in your model) and how much does it affect the results obtained?

Moreover, some other comments are given below.

1)     In Figure 15 on page 22 the space heating consumption is shown. However, it would be more useful to show values in kWh/m² y, because the absolute value does not give such relevant information, which might be more meaningful if weighted by building floor area instead. The same comment is valid for the data shown in Figures 18, 19, 20 at page 25 and the Table 9 at page 26;

2)     In the caption of Table 1 on page 4, verify the reference [14], because seems not correct. The correct reference should be [13], which indicates the UNI 10349:2016. In such regard, should be verified also the other references;

3)     In Figure 3, 4, 5 and 7 why only half of the city of Milan is shown?

4)     Figure 7 on page 12 seems not so useful for the work. In my opinion, it can be deleted, since the number of figures in the whole paper is high.

5)     On page 9, Figure 3 and 4 are not readable enough. The background of the figures can be changed to white?

6)     On page 11, Figure 5 is not readable enough. The background of the figure can be changed to white?

7)     On page 22, Figure 15 is not readable enough. The background of the figure can be changed to white?

8)     On page 25, Figure 18, 19 and 20 are not readable enough. The background of the figures can be changed to white?

9)     On page 26, at line 739 there is a misprint, the word “MilanIt” should be corrected and the sentence should be revised.

Author Response

TITLE: Statistical building energy model from data collection, place-based assessment to sustainable scenarios for the City of Milan

AUTHORS: Guglielmina Mutani , Maryam Alehasin, Yasemin Usta , Francesco Fiermonte , and Angelo Mariano

We thank the reviewers for their comments on this work and for the questions and suggestions given, we respond promptly to each comment of the reviewers in the tables below.

Together with the reviewed comments, the authors updated and enhanced the text, adding some useful parts (i.e., the query used in the model) and updating the numbers in some tables (i.e., table 5 and 6).

A file with the answers to reviewers comments' is submitted.

REVIEWER 2

Reviewer’s comment		Answer to the comment	Paragraph and section
2.0	in the analysis of potential solar production, does the irradiation affecting building roofs take into account shading from surrounding obstructions?	Yes, because solar analysis uses the DSM which is the 3D build environment considering the effects of all buildings and obstructions. This is underlined in the text to make it clearer.	Page 23
2.1	In Figure 15 on page 22 the space heating consumption is shown. However, it would be more useful to show values in kWh/m² y, because the absolute value does not give such relevant information, which might be more meaningful if weighted by building floor area instead. The same comment is valid for the data shown in Figures 18, 19, 20 at page 25 and the Table 9 at page 26;	The result of the statistical model is with energy performance indicator in modeling is kWh/m²/y, but in the figures the applications describe the spatial distribution of energy consumptions through the city. We add the modeling data in Figure 15 in kWh/m²/y and leave the applications in the next figures as kWh/y.	Page 22
2.2	In the caption of Table 1 on page 4, verify the reference [14], because seems not correct. The correct reference should be [13], which indicates the UNI 10349:2016. In such regard, should be verified also the other references;	Yes references [14] and [15] were inverted. Reference 14 is correct with all the other references.	References
2.3	In Figure 3, 4, 5 and 7 why only half of the city of Milan is shown?	The figures show one of the districts in Milan (district 2 for figures 3 and 4, district 9 for figure 5). Showing all Milan will result in unreadable maps, so we decided to zoom into specific districts. The figure names are updated to indicate that they are showing a specific district. (Highlighted in yellow)	Figures 3, 4, 5, 7
2.4	Figure 7 on page 12 seems not so useful for the work. In my opinion, it can be deleted, since the number of figures in the whole paper is high.	The figure is important to show the DSM which is the 3D representation of the city. This pre-processing work made it possible the solar analysis in Milan taking into account all shadows in the building environment. The colours and the readability of the figure are adjusted.	Figure 7
2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8	Figure 3, 4, 5, 18, 19, 20 are not readable enough. The background of the figure can be changed to white?	The figures are updated making them readable with a white background. Only Figure 15 has the real background to show that between residential buildings the space is not empty (with commercial-industrial-cultural buildings, gardens, streets, squares, etc).	Figures: 3, 4, 5, 15, 18, 19, 20
2.9	On page 26, at line 739 there is a misprint, the word “MilanIt” should be corrected, and the sentence should be revised.	It is corrected (highlighted in yellow)	Page 26

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper is about placed-based building energy modelling of residential buildings on a city scale for Milan. Based on open-source QGIS data variables for the prediction of space heating, domestic hot water consumption and potential of solar production. Other values are derived from the EPC database. Additionally, the potential of solar technologies (STC and PV) is analyzed to cover the energy demand.

The paper is well written and shows some interesting findings. Great work. I have only to comments:

-        In line 739 is something wrong with the sentence.

-        In what time resolution do you consider the self-consumption? Are timesteps equal or less 60 min taken into account? EPC and other database data are generally annual values.

Author Response

TITLE: Statistical building energy model from data collection, place-based assessment to sustainable scenarios for the City of Milan

AUTHORS: Guglielmina Mutani , Maryam Alehasin, Yasemin Usta , Francesco Fiermonte , and Angelo Mariano

We thank the reviewers for their comments on this work and for the questions and suggestions given, we respond promptly to each comment of the reviewers in the tables below.

Together with the reviewed comments, the authors updated and enhanced the text, adding some useful parts (i.e., the query used in the model) and updating the numbers in some tables (i.e., table 5 and 6).

A file with the answers to reviewers comments' is submitted.

REVIEWER 3

Reviewer’s comment		Answer to the comment	Paragraph and section
3.1	In line 739 is something wrong with the sentence.	It is corrected.	Page 26
3.2	In what time resolution do you consider the self-consumption? Are timesteps equal or less 60 min taken into account? EPC and other database data are generally annual values.	For space heating and domestic hot water we used monthly profiles for the calculations of SSI and SCI, according with the Italian energy certification regulation. For electrical consumptions we used the residential hourly profiles of typical days published by ARERA and these data were aggregated monthly for the calculation of SSI and SCI.	Page 26, line 765 Figure 23

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accepted in Present Form

Reviewer 2 Report

The changes and integrations made to the work are exhaustive with respect to the reviewer questions, therefore, I propose to accept the article in the present form.

 

Best regards