"Looking at Russia, the situation is more concerning. For example, Moscow public utility demands consume
nearly 60% of entire generated heat and over a quarter of generated electricity.
-> Moreover, between 40 and 70% of that energy is simply wasted.
The situation throughout the country is not much better. Houses and buildings constantly leak heat through
thin panel walls, though panel joints, through broken windows in communal staircases and through open windows,
making Russian cities gigantic energy sieves."
http://www.powertecrussia.com/blog/saving-energy-in-russia/
"Another common heating complaint come wintertime is that the building is either too hot or too cold,
says Vincent Tolins of Pro-Tech Plumbing in Whitestone. Sometimes, it’s both—everyone’s teeth are chattering
on the third floor, while up on six, everybody’s opening their windows because it’s so warm..
The vast majority of New York City’s buildings are steam-heated, meaning that oil or gas is heated in a boiler and,
the resultant steam distributed throughout the building."
http://cooperator.com/articles/1211/1/The-Heat-is-On/Page1.html