> I'm amazed at how little district heating is used in northern climates like Canada and the northern US.
It is used on most if not all Canadian university campuses. Canadian university buildings are also far less sprawling because they're all connected to a steam generation plant.
Similarly, I know Harvard and MIT, and also parts of Boston have centralized steam heat systems. Harvard uses theirs extensively still, at least in the old buildings, but I'm not sure about MIT. Boston's is fed by an old commercial steam plant on the outskirts of Chinatown. I think it covers a pretty limited area though. I never lived anywhere with it.
It is used on most if not all Canadian university campuses. Canadian university buildings are also far less sprawling because they're all connected to a steam generation plant.
Toronto has district heating.
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/water-environment/e...
In the reverse direction, Lake Ontario is part of a cooling system as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Lake_Water_Cooling_System