My first thought: Phoenix is a large city. Google maps tells me that it is north-to-south is about 38km, and west-to-east about 28km. Plus, it seamlessly blends into other cities to the west and east, similar to Los Angeles County (it is endless!). The headline is wildly overstated. Literally, they are measuring residential neighborhoods built next to large data centers. Yeah, no shit Sherlock. If I built housing next to some industrial plant that emits lots of heat, the same effect would probably occur. The reality of people living in a place that experiences summertime temperatures of forty-five degrees Celcius, your enormous air conditioning unit will just work a little bit harder. You spent hardly anytime outside during weather like that. If anything, this just sounds like bad land zoning laws in Phoenix. The intent of this peer-reviewed study seems suspicious to me.