This is what really scares me about cities like Phoenix, that can get so hot, have a high elderly population, and are increasingly vulnerable to blackouts. What is going to happen if the city loses power on a 110 degree day?

Some of them will die.

It's that brutal. It's also something people used to do a lot of, especially if they were working outdoors.

I've seen house designs for the South which have an open central corridor. It catches and channels any wind and helps cools the rooms on either side.

I'm sure there are other tricks, but builders don't seem to know them any more, and architects build more with a view to looks than practicality.

Modern architecture - whether it's McMansion design, concrete box design, glass tower design, or suburban vernacular design - can be almost criminally stupid about environmental issues.

There are exceptions, especially in the occasional environmentally controlled low-energy office block.

The reality is that it's possible to manage heating and cooling far more intelligently and effectively in most kinds of buildings. But it's considered a fringe eco-hippy interest and not something most of the population needs to care about.

> But it's considered a fringe eco-hippy interest and not something most of the population needs to care about.

Here in Arizona, if we built things for cooling more like in the middle east (windcatchers/solar chimneys/qanats + thick walled rammed earth and/or monolithic domes), it would probably be more energy efficient.

But I can't imagine that style would go over well with our current (overall) political climate here...

Do you have any recommendations or resources on this topic?

I've never visited Phoenix but isn't it the humidity combined with temperature that makes it unbearable?

Here in NY, with high humidity it can be upper 80s or low 90s outside but when you factor in the humidity you have no way to cool off. You can be laying down doing nothing but dripping in sweat. Combine that with being in an apartment that's on the upper floor with bad insulation and forget it. I imagine it's even worse in places like Florida.

It's also crazy how big of a difference there is between an upper floor that's poorly insulated vs a basement. You can expect a 15-20f degree difference.

Humidity makes a huge difference that is true. But even if it is 0% Humidity Phoenix regularly gets over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than hot enough to kill.