A method of providing a cooling apparatus for cooling a heat-dissipating component(s) of an electronics enclosure includes: providing a thermal conductor to couple to the heat-dissipating component(s), the thermal conductor including a first conductor portion coupled to the heat-dissipating component, and a second conductor portion to position along an air inlet side of the electronics enclosure, so that in operation, the first conductor portion transfers heat from the component(s) to the second conductor portion; coupling at least one air-cooled heat sink to the second conductor portion to facilitate transfer of heat to airflow ingressing into the enclosure; providing at least one thermoelectric device coupled to the first or second conductor portion to facilitate providing active auxiliary cooling to the thermal conductor; and providing a controller to control operation of the thermoelectric device(s) and to selectively switch operation of the cooling apparatus between active and passive cooling modes.