'Ireland needs to end its obsession with the detached house'.
New research from the Irish Green Building Council has found a 28% reduction in house sizes would help meet our climate targets.
When we think of a typical Irish home, we tend to think of a detached house nestled in the countryside.
But that won't help our climate targets going forward.
Town planning expert Brian Maher says we need to move on from our obsession with the detached house:
"We have got to get over ourselves. We've got to get to consolidated settlements, because ultimately what we need to be building is communities, not units."
The research found terraced houses and apartments are the most carbon-efficient homes.
Council CEO Pat Barry explains how that works:
"Terraced homes because they have much less surface area, they lose much less heat than a detached home.
"A detached home also needs more materials because it has more walls."
Architect Mel Reynolds says our climate focus needs to change:
"For the last few years, the focus has been on energy efficiency, and the energy used to heat and cool the building.
"The focus now is coming on what you're building out of, and also how big it is."
So the average home is nearly 250 square metres in size.
If we reduced that to around 90, it might just help save the planet.
