Remember that guy you used to work with? You know the one: he lives alone with his big screen TV and extensive library of movies and XBox games, his apartment littered with the digitalia he spends all his discretionary income accumulating. That guy you've always suspected knows more about obscure Beatles recordings than he does the female anatomy.

Well here’s a news flash: According to a research study published by University College London, it turns out that guy really IS taking up too much space on our planet. He could do us all a favor if he’d at least move back into mom and dad’s basement.

The study shows that sole occupancy households – which are primarily made up of men between the ages of 35-45 – consume far more than their fair share of energy, while simultaneously producing the more garbage (in the form of pizza boxes, beer cans and cartons of Rogane, I imagine) per capita than the rest of us.

“One-person householders are the biggest consumers of energy, land and household goods, such as washing machines, refrigerators, televisions and stereos, per capita,” according to the study. “They consume 38 per cent more products, 42 per cent more packaging, 55 per cent more electricity and 61 per cent more gas per capita than four-person households.”

So let this be a warning to the Dwight Schrute’s of the world: Get a life. Or – for the sake of the future of our planet – at least get a roommate.