World Environment Day
"This week, we talk about environmental sustainability and research. The idea is to showcase projects that are already underway, contributing to raising awareness (and action) inside and outside the particle physics community. Saturday, the last day, is the turn of the University of Lund, in Sweden."
Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the World Environment Day, established by the UN on 5 June 1973.
Minimising environmental impact and contributing to combat global warming are increasingly present concerns in any human activity, and scientific research is no exception. The size and nature of particle physics infrastructures and projects make the issue even more relevant.
CERN has taken the decision to become a role model in environmentally responsible scientific research. This involves communicating transparently about the environmental impacts of its activities, conduct all efforts to make its existing and future infrastructures more sustainable, amd
committing to contribute with technology and innovation to solutions that may be useful far beyond particle physics.
But what is already being done to minimise environmental impact? And what about the member states? How can we do more better?
From Monday to Saturday, we will bring examples of projects already being put into practice in the scientific community in particle physics and related areas - Monday is CERN's turn. From Tuesday to Saturday, we will visit research units in some of the member states.
These stories will first be published in social media (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram) and shared by CERN and its partners in the various countries - LIP, in Portugal. Those who are not there can get to know them here on LIP's website news!
The idea is to publicise projects that are already underway and to contribute to raising awareness within and outside the community. We hope that these stories will inspire more action, in more countries! Monday is CERN's turn:
Monday 5th June - CERN
Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of UN’s World Environment Day.
On This Day, CERN reflects on and commits to environmentally responsible research. Curious about the diverse ways in which CERN acts to minimise its impact on the environment? Watch this video to learn more.
For the rest of this week, join CERN and its partners as we celebrate our efforts and reiterate our commitment to continuing to do better.
CERN will publish its third environment report later this year. In the meantime, find out more in its first and second reports.
Tuesday 6th June - Switzerland
DID YOU KNOW THAT… the Swiss Light Source SLS 2.0 project at the PSI will significantly improve the intensity of the synchrotron light at the experimental stations from 2025 onwards, while at the same time reducing energy consumption by 30 percent?
The PSI is researching novel, more efficient and sustainable energy technologies and also using them in its own facilities. Learn more in https://psi.ch/en/media/energy-and-climate
Wednesday 7th June - Germany
DID YOU KNOW? DESY already heats one third of its campus with waste heat from the accelerators, and this is just a starting point ? Learn more about this project in DESY’s first sustainability report or in the DESY news.
The financial go-ahead has recently been given for a 8M€ project to use waste heat to heat the whole campus and beyond… this will be in the next sustainability report!
Thursday 8th June - The Netherlands
DID YOU KNOW THAT… Nikhef’s Roadmap for Sustainability aims at making the institute climate neutral by 2030?
Meet Nikhef’s Sustainability Ambassadors! Learn about the 5 pillars in the Roadmap and the actions that have already been taken.
https://nikhef.nl/en/focusblokken/nikhefs-ambition-climate-neutral-in-2030/
Friday 9th June - Finland
Did you know that... Every summer about 20 master students from Finland address sustainability and other challenges in a Bootcamp at CERN?
Meet Summer 2022 participant Juniper Tyree and learn more about the #study concept and the “Sustainable City Contest”.
Saturday 10th June - Sweden
Did you know that… The use of scientific software and Machine Learning algorithms can have a significant environmental cost and green software development is an active field of research and innovation?
Projects studying this issue are arising in several research institutions. Learn about the new project “Tackling the energetic cost of scientific software” in which Lund University researchers are involved.
https://www.fysik.lu.se/en/article/towards-green-software-tackling-energy-cost-scientific-software
15 June, 11:30 - LIP Seminar
At LIP, we will be holding a seminar on the topic. It's next week, in the regular LIP seminar schedule:
"Let's talk about Sustainable Research: CERN, the Particle Physics Community, and LIP"
Catarina Espirito Santo (LIP)