Summary The investigation of the use of phase change materials (PCM) in the building sector has become a significant issue and a field exhibiting significant potential in terms of research and development. The present study evaluates the integration of PCMs in office buildings on the basis of their economic and environmental performance by means of life cycle analysis (LCA) in conjunction with life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) respectively. This study is based on a previous building envelope multiobjective optimization study which considers cooling load requirements and thermal comfort conditions as optimization objectives. Specifically, this work moves 1 step further to evaluate the optimal results obtained from the above‐mentioned optimization study based on economic and environmental aspects. This paper attempts to evaluate and quantify the environmental and economic potential of PCM use in office buildings in a generic way. In detail, the present study starts by examining whether reducing the extent of the environmental impact achieved during the operational phase from energy savings offsets the respective increase arising from the PCM production. The LCA results reveal that the overall life cycle impact of the 2 office units examined is reduced, despite the respective impact of the construction stage increasing significantly, given the high proportion of impact accruing from the energy use stage in the overall impact. Finally, a life cycle cost evaluation assesses the viability of such applications, with the conclusion that the energy saving achieved during the use stage in both office units is insufficient to compensate for the LCC increase induced by the high cost of construction.

Summary Thermal energy storage applications for buildings now receive considerable attention; many systems are in development or design. Numerous studies have examined phase change materials (PCMs) incorporated into building envelopes to enhance internal thermal comfort and energy performance, while others investigated dynamic characteristics and performance of PCMs on interior surfaces. Many commercial products are currently available, but research on PCMs in Mediterranean climates is lacking. This research aims at evaluating these studies regarding the potential impact of PCM on building comfort and energy performance in Greece. The methodology intends to optimize building envelopes concerning building cooling load requirements and thermal comfort conditions. Combined dynamic simulations and multiobjective optimization, using nondominated sorting genetic algorithm‐II, evaluates design options of typical office spaces: an undivided and a fully subdivided office space, respectively. Specifically, combinations of insulation and thermal mass materials are examined quantifying thermal storage potential: as sensible storage with conventional materials or latent storage with PCM. Several PCMs, with varying melting points, are evaluated in addition to operation schedules enhancing PCM performance. Specifically, the thermal characteristics of 2 commercial products (MicronalBasf® PCM and SP‐24® from Rubitherm Technologies GmbH) are initially modeled, and several hypothetical materials are subsequently defined and evaluated. This work attempts to determine suitable applications of PCM in Mediterranean climates and evaluate their performance. The numerical results evaluate measure appropriateness, and possible trade‐offs are discussed.

Summary Thermal storage systems development is under significant concern focusing mainly to the thermal energy storage use for thermal applications. On the other hand, the investigation of phase change materials (PCMs) in the building sector was tested consisting a very promising field of research and development. A number of substances have been tested as potential PCMs; however, only few of them have been further developed for commercial purposes. This is attributed to a number of thermophysical barriers, which make the applications of PCMs in buildings difficult. Several studies have examined the potential of PCM use, either incorporated into building envelopes or in heating and cooling applications. Regarding building envelope applications, PCMs are used to mainly ensure indoor thermal comfort and contribute to energy performance. The positive impact of PCMs on the building's annual cooling and heating loads in various climate zones is a common conclusion. Concerning heating and cooling applications, the main idea has been to substitute the storage medium with PCMs, which have higher storage capacity. Hence, the use of PCMs can be considered as scientifically mature, although there are still technical, environmental, and economic barriers. The present study is the state of the art of the existing research of PCM for thermal applications taking into consideration environmental (based mainly on life cycle analysis methodology) and economic performance (accounting to life cycle cost analysis methodology) criteria, while excluding solar power generation applications.

• This article is part of a wider research project on the cultural and political significance of the photographic representations of suffering during the Second Iraq War (2003) in Greek newspapers. The paper examines in detail a particular case study — the `wailing father' photographs — carrying out a socio-semiotic analysis of the signifying practices of news reporting and exploring the visual construction of `death' and `lamentation', accounting for the complex articulation between the particular social/cultural context and the processes of meaning construction. More specifically, the aim of the article is to study the role of the representation of death and grief in war; firstly as a rhetorical tool wielded by the Greek press to support its political and moral stance against the Second Iraq War, and, secondly as a hegemonic device that creates an ambivalent divide between `us' (the `implied readers' identifying with the Western moral virtues of `civilised' humanity) and `them' (the social groups being represented, the `Non-Western World') along the lines of Orientalist bipolar oppositions. The article concludes that the `wailing father' photographs, as a deeply complex mixture of voyeurism, objectification, affective participation, human brotherhood, moral indifference, imaginative compassion, passivity and fatalism, seem to reproduce, in all their confusion, the Western superiority and the Orientalist imagery, but also the moral and political failure to react over suffering and war. •

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