The news about home building these days seems conflicted between the ever-growing trend toward tiny house living and the return of the McMansion. But both sync up perfectly with demographic trends.

The Keystone XL Pipeline drama continues—on Tuesday, President Obama vetoed a bill proposed by Congress to approve construction of the $8 billion project. In a succinct rejection statement, Obama stated that the legislation would “circumvent longstanding and proven processes” for evaluating a project like this one.

WHAT ARE THE SECRETS to an energy efficient home? We’re glad you asked! There are a few things you can do to transform your home from a standard dwelling into an amazing, money-and-energy-saving abode of awesomeness!

To comply with President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, U.S. agencies are withdrawing support for coal-fired plants in foreign countries. But will Congress thwart this progress?

THE U.S. GOVERNMENT has provided essential financing for major infrastructure in foreign countries for decades, including coal-fired power plants and other fossil energy projects. Most of these investments have flowed through one of two federal agencies: the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which invests to boost development in poor countries, or the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), which provides financing for projects that will create demand for U.S. exports. The aggregate emissions from projects funded by these agencies have been significant: according to an analysis by Greenpeace, they produced 8 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions in the period from 1990 to 2003.

In celebration of our 10th anniversary—here are our picks for some of the most important innovations to hit the mainstream of the building industry.

GREEN IS A VAGUE WORD, one that’s often overused and misused. But it’s still arguably the term that consumers relate most to conserving water, energy, biodiversity and raw resources. And when you dig deep enough, these are the “deep green” concerns—the issues likely to impact human survival. On the next tier are “medium green” issues that affect human health: air quality, water purity and so on. In the “light green” arena, I would relegate issues such as plant efficiency and packaging reduction. That’s because, as important as these efforts are, simply making a production facility more efficient does not necessarily mean it will use fewer resources or more recycled material. Often, any decrease in impact is lost as the facility ramps up volume.