this image is not available
Media Platforms Design Team

Keeping the fridge door open while you decide what you want to eat may not seem like a big deal, but that open door accounts for 7% of the appliance's total energy use, according to Home Energy Magazine.

When you open your refrigerator, the cold air that keeps your food fresh escapes and is replaced by warm air from the room. Your refrigerator's compressor has to then drive the warm air out and bring the temperature back to normal, elevating not only your monthly energy bill, but also your environmental footprint.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida says that being careless with opening and closing your fridge door wastes 50 to 120kWh a year. To put that into perspective, 50kWh of energy could run your dishwasher 20 times and 100kWh could run your washing machine 50 times — almost a free load of laundry every week for an entire year.

RELATED: A Quick Guide to Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs