A newly operational heat exchange system is now capturing waste heat from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and redirecting it to warm homes and businesses in the nearby French town of Ferney-Voltaire. The Large Hadron Collider explainedThe Large Hadron Collider is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, located underground near Geneva on the French–Swiss border. Its vast scale and energy demands also make it uniquely suited to innovative energy recovery projects such as this heat exchange system. At the heart of the initiative is an advanced heat exchange system that captures hot water produced during the cooling of sensitive accelerator equipment. How the heat exchange system worksThe Large Hadron Collider stretches across 27 kilometres and includes eight major surface points.