A developer begins work on a 70-unit shipping container apartment complex in Texas' housing-strapped Eagle Ford Shale region with the goal of attracting folks who will stick around beyond the oil boom.

Led by a solar-loving Republican mayor and blessed with plenty of sunshine, this Mojave Desert city will require all new single-family homes to be equipped with solar starting in 2014.

Hong Kong activists propose converted shipping containers as a means of affordable housing for young residents in the cramped and overpriced city. The catch? They'd be located beneath highway overpasses.

Now that, sir, is a skylight. Lighthaus, a development of 20 energy-efficient townhouses in Toronto's west end, boasts innovative modular skylight systems from Velux that promote fresh air and natural light.