Climate change necessitates that each of us work at reducing our carbon footprint (the amount of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere by our actions and lifestyle).

One way we can reduce our carbon footprint is being careful to pump only the amount of gasoline into our car’s tank that is needed.

The temptation could be to add a little more gasoline after the pump clicks off to round off the dollar sale, or get as much gasoline as the tank will hold. However, topping off your gas tank is bad for the environment as well as more costly to consumers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The gas nozzle automatically clicks off when the tank is full. When we top off we can be paying for gasoline that is fed back into the vapor recovery system, which is designed to prevent gas vapors from escaping into the air.

Also, the car tank needs some wiggle room to allow the fuel to expand. Without this extra space, the additional gasoline could evaporate into the car’s vapor collection system and possibly damage it, resulting in the automobile running poorly and having high gas emissions.

Here’s to saving some money and preventing carbon emission.