Architectural Simulation of Hybrid Energy Harvesting: A Design Experiment in Lanzarote Island
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
The article presents a significative example of research led-architectural design that shows the potential of hybrid energy harvesting technology. The article is very timely. However, there are several improvements needed in order to clarify different aspects of the research. I have summarized these different aspect in my comments below.
Title: the proposed title does not adequately reflect the topic of the article. Proposed new title: Architectural Simulation of Hybrid Energy Harvesting: a design experiment in Lanzarote Island.
47: specify if this is Worldwide or locally
51 et al: renewable energy production: replace it with ‘renewable energy generation’
57: ‘As for research on a single-architectural-structure, there is a study that applies energy harvesting technology to the exterior design of architecture’. Which is this study? Please name the authors.
64-66: ‘Even though there have been studies that apply diverse energy harvesting technology in architecture, currently there is a limitation that energy harvesting technology has not been used as an element of architectural design’. Who says this? Please provide a citation to strengthen this bold statement. For instance, the BIQ house in Hamburg uses energy harvesting in an architectural way, through façade design: https://www.arup.com/projects/solar-leaf
71-72: ‘However, there is a complete lack of research on architectural design based on energy harvesting technology utilizing micro-energy sources’. Can you support this statement with a citation? Micro-generation is used in this project: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317510627_Optimising_building_net_energy_demand_with_dynamic_BIPV_shading
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pjayathissa_empa-hilo-drone-view-virtual-opening-october-activity-6849589360644489216-ncXS
Solar ivy was another old project using micro-generation though piezo devices: https://www.solaripedia.com/13/285/solar_ivy_uses_pvs_and_piezoelectrics.html
93-94: ‘In 2020, Lanzarote Island where the research subject is located on has the record of the lowest temperature of 14°C in January and the highest temperature of 24°C in August’. Lowest and highest temperatures compared to what? In the Island of Lanzarote?
- ‘This study seeks to propose a new model for future communal space through the plan of Lanzarote Dynamic Squares’ This is a repetition. Please remove this sentence.
146-147. ‘However, there is the limitation that more variation is needed for the currently limited renewable energy technology in architecture and as of now, renewable energy technology is not applicable to architectural design’ Please clarify this bold statement. What do you mean for ‘more variation needed’? Why renewable energy technology is not applicable to architectural design? There are a lot of examples of integration of renewables in architecture: how about the German Pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015? https://www.schmidhuber.de/en/project/german-pavilion-expo-milano-2015-0
221 (and other parts of the article): Replace ‘eco-friendly architectural design’ with ‘green building design’. Same for ‘environment-friendly architecture’.
Figure 7: Please show a figure with the solar panels mounted on the rooftop. They are not clearly visible in Figure 7.
Table 2: Please explain what type of solar cells/solar panels have been considered for the calculation of the energy generated.
Figure 8. Please explain in the text, how the solar panels can be mounted on the roof to act as a solar tracking system. What kind of pneumatic system do you expect to use? How is this powered?
313-314: please explain that these are Polymer Piezoelectric Sensors (laminated on a polyester Mylar sheet). https://www.te.com/commerce/DocumentDelivery/DDEController?Action=srchrtrv&DocNm=LDT_with_Riveted_Leads&DocType=DS&DocLang=English
337-338 Please explain – in practice - the impact of the green energy generated by the pergola. What kind of devices can be powered with the generated energy in one selected month? How the generated energy can be used by the local community? In the conclusions the author says: ‘This study does not study the final electricity production amount of renewable energy and its economic feasibility’. However, the study shows the energy generated monthly by the devices used. Please address this issue in the discussion section.
340-341: ‘for a building that will be built in Arrecife’. Please clarify if the building will actually be built. Did this project win a design competition?
The article is missing a section dedicated to the discussion. Limits and potentials of the research are not clearly discussed nor compared with relevant literature or projects. Please add a specific section dedicated to ‘results and discussion’.
The entire article needs professional proofreading.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Conclusion: major revision
This work focuses on an energy-self-sufficient architectural design for a building roof, combining with solar power and wind power. It is a design for the Lanzarote Dynamic Square Architecture Competition hosted by Cabildo de Lanzarote in 2018.
- The information that the author wants to convey to the readers in this paper is not easy to conceive, is the design finally accepted?
- The author mentioned for the design, the total renewable energy produced yields the result that a total of 504 solar panels could generate a total of 1,150,198 kWh·year−1 energy, please give the more detailed information how you calculate the results? The power output of solar panels, the sunshine hours, the total power output of solar system, etc.
- The paper is mainly about the architectural design of solar and wind hybrid energy, from the perspective of a research papers, there is insufficient actual data to support.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Thank you for considering my review of your article. I think the article has improved a lot from the fist submission. However, I think more work is needed to refine it and match academic standards for publication. In particular, There is still an inappropriate use of technical words. For instance, the authors are still using the word ‘kinetic façade’ when the subject of the research is a pergola and kinetic devices are installed on the roof of the structure (PV panels) and on the ceiling (piezoelectric devices). At least, I would call it a ‘kinetic roof’ if the panel are supposed to be adjustable.
Also, the entire article still needs professional proofreading to avoid typos and other issues with punctuation and terminology.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
It may be accepted in present form.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
