1) You can't win.

2) You can't break even.

3) You can't get out of the game.

Unfortunately, you can't get work out of heat. It's the difference in temperature before and after that creates work. For example, the hot gases of gasoline combustion can push the pistons in your car, but the exhaust carries away a lot of heat that can't be utilized to generate mechanical energy because it isn't hot enough compared to the outside air. That's why all heat engines, be they steam turbines or jet engines or car motors have warm exhausts. As it turns out, only a fraction of the original heat energy can be utilized to do work. The rest is waste heat and is inaccessible. This is not a technological problem that can be overcome by clever engineering, it's a fundamental physical principle and there ain't no way around it. This waste heat adds enormously to the heat island effect in our cities.

The old timers did know how to take advantage of local conditions to mitigate the need for airconditioning. In Florida, architects built high ceilings with vents to allow hot air to rise and escape, doors and windows were big, and placed to take advantage of every breeze, and long shotgun hallways promoted through-circulation. Roofs were tin, to reflect the sun in the day and radiate heat quickly at night. Houses were painted white, and had wide porches to cast shade on the 3 sides where the sun shone and to allow the windows to remain open when it rained. Houses were also built off the ground to allow air to circulate underneath as well as for flood protection. And of course, trees were strategically planted to provide shade.

Modern houses are cheaper to build, but you pay it all back trying to keep them air-conditioned. The same goes for buildings, they used to be tolerable in the summer, and cheap to heat in the winter. Now, the air conditioning has to run year-round, even in winter, because they cannot dissipate excess heat fast enough. Modern construction methods are designed to save the builders money, not the owners of the finished structures. I ain't talkin' nostalgia here, I'm talking science.

BTW, there is a fourth Law of Thermodynamics, the Zeroeth Law

0) You gotta play whether you want to or not.