{"id":335440,"date":"2026-02-17T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/?p=335440"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:54:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:54:36","slug":"cern-heat-already-heating-homes-in-france","status":"publish","type":"noticias","link":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/cern-heat-already-heating-homes-in-france\/","title":{"rendered":"CERN heat already heating homes in France"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CERN has begun reusing the heat generated by its Large Hadron Collider (LHC)<\/strong> to provide heating for homes and businesses in the French town of Ferney-Voltaire. This new system, operational from January 2026, marks a breakthrough in energy sustainability<\/strong> for one of the most complex scientific facilities on the planet. <\/p>\n\n

A science-driven heating system<\/h2>\n\n

The LHC, with its 27-kilometer circumference and cryogenic cooling systems, generates large amounts of heat during its operation. Traditionally, the heat was dissipated through cooling towers, however, thanks to a new heat exchange network<\/strong> installed at LHC Point 8, near Ferney-Voltaire, the hot water that was previously discarded now transfers its energy to the local heating network.<\/p>\n\n

Two 5 MW heat exchangers make it possible to send this thermal energy to thermal energy<\/a><\/strong> to the city, reducing the need for gas and other fossil fuel sources. In this first phase, the system provides up to 5 MW of thermal power, although it is planned to double this capacity as CERN’s accelerators are optimized. <\/p>\n\n

Direct benefit for thousands of households<\/h2>\n\n

The new heating network supplies a developing residential and commercial area, equivalent to several thousand homes. This system not only represents a cleaner alternative, it also avoids the emission of thousands of tons of CO\u2082 annually.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

Although the LHC will go into technical pause in the summer of 2026 as part of the Long Shutdown 3 (LS3) maintenance plan, part of its facilities will continue to generate useful heat. This will make it possible to maintain a supply of between 1 and 5 MW to the grid throughout the upgrade period, with the exception of a few months. <\/p>\n\n

Part of a broader environmental strategy<\/h2>\n\n

This initiative is part of CERN’<\/strong>s energy strategy<\/strong>, aimed at reducing the environmental impact of its activities. The organization complies with ISO 50001 standards and has implemented similar projects in other areas of its infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n

These include the new data center in Pr\u00e9vessin data center at Pr\u00e9vessin<\/a><\/strong>which will reuse its own heat to heat CERN buildings starting in the winter of 2026\/2027. It is also planned to capture thermal energy in the cooling towers of LHC Point 1 to power the Meyrin site. <\/p>\n\n

Together, these actions are estimated to save between 25 and 30 GWh per year starting in 2027.<\/p>\n\n

A connection between science, community and sustainability<\/h2>\n\n

Beyond its fundamental discoveries in physics, CERN demonstrates how scientific infrastructure can have a direct impact on the well-being of neighboring communities. By channeling waste heat from its facilities to French homes, it is taking a firm step towards a more efficient and environmentally friendly model. <\/p>\n\n

Source: CERN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands of homes in Ferney-Voltaire are already heated by waste heat from the Large Hadron Collider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10019,"featured_media":335421,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categoria_noticias":[13026,13036],"etiqueta_noticias":[],"class_list":["post-335440","noticias","type-noticias","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categoria_noticias-energy","categoria_noticias-oil-and-gas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/335440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticias"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/335440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_noticias?post=335440"},{"taxonomy":"etiqueta_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/etiqueta_noticias?post=335440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}