Is it at all possible to avoid duplicate space in iPhoto?

I want to start off saying that I understand the reason for having the "modified" and "original" sections of iPhoto. It makes sense from a photography standpoint to always keep an original when editing, I get that. Back in the day with iPhoto it used to be that it would only make a modified version if you made a modification to a photo. Slightly annoying as I keep originals outside of iPhoto as well, but I get it.

What I don't get, is recently, I guess perhaps with iPhoto '11 or an update thereof, now if I take a photo with my iPhone 5 and import it iPhoto, let's say it's a 3MB photo. When I drag it into iPhoto, I can watch the size of the iPhoto library increase by 6MB. It automatically creates a modified file for EVERY picture imported. I realize (again) that this could be for preview and for when referencing iPhoto pictures from other applications, and I also realize that it could be because of rotating options on the camera or whatever, but if we boil down to the very base issue here, if I shoot 50GB of photos with my iPhone or iPad and make NO edits to these photos, I don't want to have a 100GB iPhoto library, but this is how it is currently functioning.

My question is: is there any way to disable the modified feature, or am I forever destined to have double the space used for every picture I import regardless of whether or not I make edits. Basically, can I turn this off or do I have to switch to Picasa or another such alternative?