Never heard of that, unless it's for an off-grid situation.
I've had lots of experience with swamp coolers. They're quite a bit of maintenance, not something you can just use without thinking. The floats often times stop working, they build up with scale and need cleaned, including the spray arms getting plugged up then only 1/2 your pads are wet. Then they rust out in about 5-7 years and need replaced.
They're also not really effective if it's over 100* out or if there's any humidity from a recent storm rolling through. Have to crack every room's window a little bit to let the air flow, otherwise it's pretty ineffective. Or use Up-Dux throughout the house.
In our previous homes where we had it we always had them along with an air conditioner, to use in the cooler months or on nights where it cools down, you can freeze out the house overnight and then flip the A/C on for when the house eventually warms up. But you aren't ever really "comfortable" as the temperature is never steady. It'll be 67 at night in the house and 77 in the afternoon kind of thing.
The only ones worth a darn is a Mastercool or Bonaire Durango. The ones with the straw pads are cheap junk.
I don't see how they could ever be used in new construction.
We're building a large detached garage this summer and I'll eventually put a big swamp cooler on it.
