Ok, I didn't know where you were going with "As long you have liquids" but think I get it now.

You make a good point about the radiated energy of the sun only being converted to heat once it strikes matter. Orbiting high energy reflectors could make a planet habitable closer to a sun. On distant planets, low altitude energy absorbers which reradiate IR could raise surface temps enough to boost biology which conditions the atmosphere favorably.

It wouldn't make much difference on a cosmological scale, but to an intelligent species facing extinction, it might be something they/we would attempt at the edges of goldilocks zones to eek out a few more generations.