The world’s most powerful particle accelerator usually explores the universe. Near Geneva, it now helps heat homes.
At CERN, the Large Hadron Collider, located underground beneath the French–Swiss border, is famous for pushing the boundaries of fundamental physics. But since mid-January 2026, part of its cooling system has taken on a very down-to-earth role.
Instead of releasing hot water into the atmosphere, heat generated during the cooling of the accelerator and its cryogenic systems is now recovered and fed into a local district heating network. That energy is already warming homes and businesses in nearby Ferney-Voltaire 
.
.The system is expected to supply the equivalent of several thousand homes and avoid the emission of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ each year, all while CERN continues its core scientific mission.
More heat-recovery projects are already planned, including systems designed to warm buildings on CERN’s Meyrin site in Switzerland 
from winter 2026/2027.
from winter 2026/2027.
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