Heating homes with the largest particle accelerator

9 days ago

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CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is now supplying heat to a residential and commercial area in Ferney-Voltaire, France, through a new heat exchange system.
The heating network, inaugurated in December, can supply the equivalent of several thousand homes, reducing CO2 emissions by avoiding traditional energy sources.
Heat is recovered from the LHC's cooling water system, which would otherwise release heat into the atmosphere, and transferred to the heating network via heat exchangers.
CERN currently provides up to 5 MW of heat to Ferney-Voltaire, with potential to double this when accelerators are fully operational.
During the LHC's Long Shutdown 3 (LS3) in 2026, CERN will continue supplying 1–5 MW of heat, except for five months spread over the shutdown period.
CERN is committed to environmentally responsible research, with energy recovery being a key part of its energy management strategy.
Other projects include heat recovery from the Prévessin Data Centre and future plans to recover heat from LHC Point 1 cooling towers for CERN's Meyrin site.
These initiatives are expected to save 25–30 GWh per year from 2027 onwards, contributing to CERN's responsible energy management.

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