As heat soars, the Southwest ditches ‘swamp coolers’ for air conditioning

In late May in Albuquerque„ as the temperature in Derek Villanueva’s classroom hovered around 80 degrees, he looked out at a sea of flushed, sleepy high-schoolers. His school’s cooling system wasn’t broken — it seemed overwhelmed, he said.

Across the Albuquerque public school district, 72 percent of classrooms — including Villanueva’s — rely on an evaporative cooling system, also known as a swamp cooler. This less-expensive alternative to air conditioning works by blowing air across a cool, wet pad, mimicking the effect of a misting fan. Ideal in dry climates and less energy intensive than typical AC units, swamp coolers were once hugely popular in the Southwest.