{"id":16101,"date":"2021-11-24T15:24:05","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T15:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=16101"},"modified":"2021-11-24T15:24:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T15:24:05","slug":"cern-communicates-plans-to-reduce-their-environmental-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/cern-communicates-plans-to-reduce-their-environmental-footprint\/16101\/","title":{"rendered":"CERN communicates plans to reduce their environmental footprint"},"content":{"rendered":"
CERN released its second public Environment Report today, 24 November, declaring its plans to reduce its environmental footprint. The report covers the years 2019 to 2020 when the accelerator complex was in its second long shutdown.<\/p>\n
The organisation took the opportunity during this period of maintenance to improve and upgrade its environmental footprint in several ways. For instance, by limiting CERN\u2019s direct greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> and working on local heat recovery projects. In addition, a key objective of the long shutdown was to prepare the ground for the high-luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC<\/a>), which is being completed with environmental considerations firmly in mind.<\/p>\n To guarantee transparency and to demonstrate its leadership in environmental management for research organisations, the Laboratory made a commitment in 2019 to communicate about its environmental footprint every two years. They also vowed to remain in alignment with the internationally recognised GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards.<\/p>\n \u201cThe production of CERN\u2019s first public Environment Report in 2020 enabled us to establish reporting frameworks and set concrete goals,\u201d declared CERN Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti. \u201cThis second report is about turning words into action.\u201d<\/p>\n To reduce CERN\u2019s direct greenhouse gas emissions, that were mostly related to the use of various fluorinated gases (F-gases), the experiments launched a leak repair campaign to decrease F-gas emissions. The second long shutdown also marked the first step towards replacing F-gases with carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) in detector cooling systems. CO2<\/sub> has a substantially lower global warming potential than F-gases. This endeavour contributes to last year\u2019s commitment declared by CERN to reduce greenhouse gases by 28% by the end of 2024 in an effort to shrink its environmental footprint.<\/p>\n CERN is also running various heat recovery projects. In 2019, the organisation signed an agreement with the local French authorities regarding the collection of heat from its facilities at Point 8 of the Large Hadron Collider, to provide heating for a residential area in neighbouring Ferney-Voltaire. Houses are set to be heated with reduced CO2<\/sub>\u00a0emissions and at a lower cost. The quantity of heat delivered will be progressive between 8 and 10 years, ultimately reaching 20 GWh\/year. A proposal to test the functionality of the system is scheduled for the end of 2022. CERN is continuing to explore heat recovery on the Meyrin and Pr\u00e9vessin sites.<\/p>\n The Environment Report also illustrates the energy efficiency improvements implemented at the HL-LHC, in particular its ability to gather more data per unit of energy used. Over the 20-year lifespan of the upgraded machine, energy efficiency will eventually rise to a 10% increase than when CERN\u2019s flagship facility was initially switched on.<\/p>\n In addition to direct greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1) and indirect greenhouse gas emissions related to electricity consumption (scope 2), this year\u2019s report presents for the first-time data related to other indirect emissions (scope 3). This includes business travel, personnel commutes, and catering. A procedure for evaluating procurement-related emissions and a project for greening CERN\u2019s procurement are under preparation and will be included in a future report concerning its environmental footprint.<\/p>\n \u201cCERN is reporting on its scope 3 emissions for the first time, marking an important step in understanding and controlling the environmental impact beyond CERN\u2019s walls, upstream and downstream in our supply chain,\u201d added Beno\u00eet Delille, head of the Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental protection unit at CERN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the release of their second Environment Report, CERN illustrates its concreate actions to reduce its environmental footprint by focusing on its greenhouse gas emissions. CERN released its second public Environment Report today, 24 November, declaring its plans to reduce its environmental footprint. The report covers the years 2019 to 2020 when the accelerator complex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":16102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24433,785],"tags":[689,24134,3365],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReducing its environmental footprint<\/h3>\n
Energy efficiency improvements<\/h3>\n