It's useful in warm and humid climates. In warm and dry climates, a swamp cooler will beat the pants off of an airconditioner in damn near every metric you can think of.

So, sure, in the swamps of Florida, we should be OK with using the AC. But in the dry heat of Texas? Or southern California? Why doesn't America do even the simple things right? In city planning, in cooling, in HOA's dictating lawn upkeep and on and on and on.