On net I don’t think it makes a difference. When the energy is spent as electricity it basically releases heat in some form or other eventually
You could even achieve a similar effect with today's tech by running solar-powered heat pumps that pump the heat into deep bore holes or old oil wells.
But that air conditioning the desert is a particularly great idea, but compared to better ideas like putting translucent reflective foil into orbit it had the charm that it has local effects you can achieve without international cooperation or incident