America's hottest city is nearly unlivable in summer. Can cooling technologies save it?

[mike_c]

6. We live in the west (Phoenix) valley...

...and I must say it is not "unfit" for human habitation. What would you do, kick us out of our home? We chose to live here for a variety of reasons, one of which is our love of Sonoran desert, i.e. we LIKE the conditions you feel are unfit for habitation. Between wildfires, floods, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes, deadly winter weather, active volcanos, landslides, rising sea levels, and earthquakes there few places to live without personal and ecological risks and certainly not enough to hold even the relatively small population of the U.S. We've even got the crater from a big meteor strike here!

In Arizona, as in most western states, large scale agriculture hoover's up FAR more water than residential use, like 90% vs 10%. Not surprisingly it's quite profitable for agricultural land owners to irrigate the desert while pointing fingers at residential water users.

It is a lovely day here in the west valley, 70-ish F and dry, with a wonderful soft desert breeze. It's only scorching for a few months in mid-summer.