By Lucas Gray In 2015, about 40% of total U.S. energy consumption was consumed in buildings. A large percentage of that energy use was for heating. Architects have a tremendous opportunity to dramatically impact our societal energy consumption by designing buildings that are more efficient. One strategy to achieve this is to look at systems on a much larger scale. Rather than thinking about one building at a time, district or city-wide heating systems could quickly and cheaply increase the efficiency of buildings, saving money and resources, and better addressing climate change.