Optimisation of Building Green Performances Using Vertical Greening Systems: A Case Study in Changzhou, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article discusses the important issue of the impact of building greening systems on selected indicators of ecological efficiency, thermal comfort, air quality and energy consumption. The content of the article fully fits into the scope of the Sustainability journal. The purpose and scope of the work was clearly formulated. The methodology was properly described in a way that allows the research to be reproduced in the future. The results and conclusions of the research correspond to the goals set in the article. It remains to be considered to supplement the discussion with the possible interaction of building greening and interaction with the ground, especially in terms of thermal inertia. You can refer to, among others, 10.3390/su13063084 and 10.15666/aeer/1704_81798189.

Author Response

1. The article discusses the important issue of the impact of building greening systems on selected indicators of ecological efficiency, thermal comfort, air quality and energy consumption. The content of the article fully fits into the scope of the Sustainability journal. The purpose and scope of the work was clearly formulated. The methodology was properly described in a way that allows the research to be reproduced in the future. The results and conclusions of the research correspond to the goals set in the article.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your helpful comments. We have incorporated all your comments.

2. It remains to be considered to supplement the discussion with the possible interaction of building greening and interaction with the ground, especially in terms of thermal inertia. You can refer to, among others, 10.3390/su13063084 and 10.15666/aeer/1704_81798189.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have studied the recommended references, which are very helpful for our research.

In this paper, due to the limitation of experimental conditions, the interaction between building greening and the ground have poor data support. Therefore, in order to eliminate the potential interaction between building greening and the ground, the comparison Group B on the first floor was not considered in the thermal inertia analysis. We have supplemented a corresponding explanation in section 4.2(Line 545 -line 549). (In order to minimize the potential impact of the interaction of building greening system and the ground[43,44], the comparison Group B on the first floor was not included in this section. Analysis of the thermal inertia involved a comparison of thermal indicators in A1(without VGS) and A2(with VGS) in Group A on the second floor. Specifically, our aim is to investigate the impact of VGS on thermal inertia.)

In our future study, temperature sensors would be deployed on the ground and more experiment would be conducted to research the interaction of building greening and the ground in our further study.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

• Very good literature review, with over 40 relevant papers cited
• The subject is quite actually and very well treated. Improving living in houses and reducing the pollutants is a direction that must be studied again and again until enters in the collective consciousness
• The structure of the paper is good
• The experiment spanned through a 90-days period covers, from a temporal and climatic point of view, very well the aim of the study

Author Response

Very good literature review, with over 40 relevant papers cited.

The subject is quite actually and very well treated. Improving living in houses and reducing the pollutants is a direction that must be studied again and again until enters in the collective consciousness.

The structure of the paper is good.

The experiment spanned through a 90-days period covers, from a temporal and climatic point of view, very well the aim of the study.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your elaborative reading, brilliant summary and helpful comments.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

the work is generally interesting.

In M&M I think a better description of the building and the building elements (i.e. layers, ...) is important. An analysis of the thermophysical/energetic properties should also be integrated in this chapter.

In general there are some typing errors in the units used.

I don't understand how the authors demonstrate the contribution of VGS to indoor IAQ. Obviously there are differences between indoor and outdoor but  are not connected to the VGS. The internal environments are different and have different uses, as well as different facades. How is it possible to do a comparison? (Considering that this chapter is less related to work in general, it might as well be deleted).

In the conclusions, the authors correctly specify that the work was carried out in an operational building and not in a laboratory. I think it could be useful to specify this aspect also in the introduction, because it  justifies the approach to the entire work.  

 

 

Author Response

1. The work is generally interesting. In M&M I think a better description of the building and the building elements (i.e. layers, ...) is important. An analysis of the thermophysical/energetic properties should also be integrated in this chapter.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your helpful comments. Following your advice, we complement the description of enclosure structure and energy-consuming equipment such as air conditioning and lighting in section 2.1 (Line 160- Line 170). (The roof and exterior wall thermal insulation materials of the project are made of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) boards. The heat transfer coefficients of roof and exterior wall are 0.39 W/(m²·K) and 0.63 W/(m²·K) respectively. The outer windows are composed of three layers of glass and heat-insulating metal profiles, with the heat transfer coefficient reaching 1.8W/(m²·K) in the east and 2.1W/(m²·K) in the other directions. On this basis, the thermal performance of the enclosure conforms to the relevant provisions of the energy-saving design standards. The air conditioning system of the project is multi-connected air conditioner (VRV), and the performance coefficient IPLV is above 7.0. In order to save energy, LED light source is used in the building, while centralized control, zoning control, induction control measures are adopted for public area lighting.)

For building and building elements, as a supplement to building information in section 2.1 , we have more detailed illustration and picture display in section 2.2 and Figure 4, including the description of the layer, area, function and other attributes.

 

2. In general there are some typing errors in the units used.

【Answer】

Thank you for the reminder. We have corrected all errors in the units ,e.g., m2,CO2.

 

3. I don't understand how the authors demonstrate the contribution of VGS to indoor IAQ. Obviously there are differences between indoor and outdoor but  are not connected to the VGS. The internal environments are different and have different uses, as well as different facades. How is it possible to do a comparison? (Considering that this chapter is less related to work in general, it might as well be deleted).

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your suggestion. In this paper, when analysing the contribution of VGS to IAQ, the indoor VGS in the interior atrium (Figure 4. (D, E)) was the major consideration. Analysis of the IAQ involved a comparison of the data-monitoring results for five indicators in B1 (with no indoor VGS) and B2 (with indoor VGS and potted plants) in Group B, and the external VGSs on the facade were not involved. Therefore, the study was mainly based on indoor comparison groups. Differences between internal and external environments were not discussed here.

 

4. In the conclusions, the authors correctly specify that the work was carried out in an operational building and not in a laboratory. I think it could be useful to specify this aspect also in the introduction, because it  justifies the approach to the entire work.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have specified this aspect in the introduction (Line 136 - line 141).( It was noteworthy that this research had been based in a real operational building under the influences of complex factors, and the experimental measurements might not have been as rigorous as laboratory-based ones. However, quantitative case studies on real-time monitoring and energy consumption of building operations would be necessary to provide insights into the actual effects of VGSs on building green performances.)

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

The paper is interesting and it is well written. It deals with an experimental study in which a multi-in -one IEQ monitoring system is used to test a vertical greening apparatus installed in a green certified building in China. In the following there are some minor comments and as a general comment I suggest to revise the quality of figures and, if it is possible, to reduce the numbers of figures by moving some of them in an Appendix section.
Please, you should avoid the use of acronyms in the abstract.

Please, you should avoid the use of lumping references in the section 1, as in line 102, 110 and all others. I suggested avoiding bulk references as (23,24), (25-29) , (30,31) and all others. Instead I suggest summarizing the main content of each referenced paper in a separate sentence by including the reference number.

Literature review
The literature review is well organized, and it contains relevant works. The classification of works in different subclasses according to different topics is very useful for the readers.
Experimental description
The choice of experiment period of 90-days is a good staring monitoring period. Do you think to extend the monitoring period to other seasons too?
Energy consumption
 When you speak about energy consumption, you mean electricity consumption or thermal energy consumption or primary energy consumption? Please specify it in the text
You can add a discussion section, before the conclusion section,, in which you can point out why this study is important for the scientific community? What are the limitations of this study? What are the future improvements of this work?
Conclusion
The structure of conclusion section is well organised, and the bulleted list helps the reader to catch the main Findings.
Generally, I suggest using Figures with a higher quality. For example, Figure 4 a e b, figure 5, figure 9 from A to D and all others with low quality, and Figure 13 have a poor quality.
 
You should include a nomenclature section.

A Lot of unit of measurements have typos errors as m2 instead of m2, CO2 instead of CO2 and so on

Author Response

Reviewer 4#

1. The paper is interesting and it is well written. It deals with an experimental study in which a multi-in -one IEQ monitoring system is used to test a vertical greening apparatus installed in a green certified building in China.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your elaborative reading, brilliant summary and helpful comments. We have revised the paper carefully according to these comments and suggestions.

 

2. In the following there are some minor comments and as a general comment I suggest to revise the quality of figures and, if it is possible, to reduce the numbers of figures by moving some of them in an Appendix section.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have revised and improved the quality of the figures throughout the manuscript as suggested. Regarding the number of figures, we have adopted your suggestion to move some figures to an Appendix section, but after careful consideration, we believe that all the figures are essential for our results and conclusions. Therefore, we have not reduced the number of figures in the paper. However, we have ensured each figure is clearly referenced and explained in the manuscript to help understand the relevance to the study.

 

3. Please, you should avoid the use of acronyms in the abstract.

【Answer】

Thank you for your advice. We have revised all the acronyms in the abstract.

 

4. Please, you should avoid the use of lumping references in the section 1, as in line 102, 110 and all others

【Answer】

Thank you for your advice.  We have revised most lumping references in section 1[Line 91, Line 109, Line 119]. Some references are indeed valuable for the introduction. However, they can not be expanded in the introduction due to the length constraints of the article[Line 106].

 

5. The literature review is well organized, and it contains relevant works. The classification of works in different subclasses according to different topics is very useful for the readers.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your elaborative reading, brilliant summary and helpful comments.

 

6. The choice of experiment period of 90-days is a good staring monitoring period. Do you think to extend the monitoring period to other seasons too?

【Answer】

Thank you very much for the suggestion. In the future study, we will continue to carry out the testing and analysis work on a broader time period, in order to study the contribution of VGS more comprehensively.

 

7. When you speak about energy consumption, you mean electricity consumption or thermal energy consumption or primary energy consumption? Please specify it in the text.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for the suggestion. The energy consumption discussed in this paper refers to electricity consumption. We have specified this in the manuscript (Line 626 - line 630).

 

8. You can add a discussion section, before the conclusion section,, in which you can point out why this study is important for the scientific community? What are the limitations of this study? What are the future improvements of this work?

【Answer】

Thank you very much for the suggestion. We have revised the conclusion section to discuss the importance and limitation of this study, and have added the future improvement plan in the end of the conclusion section (Line 691 - line 696).（In the future study, the experimental design will be continuously optimized to minimize the interference of building operation on the experimental data. In addition, the experiment will be implemented in a longer time period to cover all seasons, and the study on the interaction between the building VGSs and the surrounding environ-ment including the ground and landscape greening system will continue, in order to study the contribution of VGS in a more comprehensive dimension.）

 

9. The structure of conclusion section is well organised, and the bulleted list helps the reader to catch the main Findings.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your positive comments on the conclusion.

 

10. Generally, I suggest using Figures with a higher quality. For example, Figure 4 a e b, figure 5, figure 9 from A to D and all others with low quality, and Figure 13 have a poor quality.

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have improved the quality of the mentioned figures in the revised manuscript.

 

11. You should include a nomenclature section.

【Answer】

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We have supplemented a nomenclature section to our paper (Page 2).

 

12. A Lot of unit of measurements have typos errors as m2 instead of m2, CO2 instead of CO2 and so on

【Answer】

Thank you for your advice. We are sorry for the mistakes. We have corrected all errors in the units.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf