No of open connections

[eluser]kakawett[/eluser]
I was just wondering about the next syntax :

$this->load->database();

Does it create a connection or check that there's an open connection before creating a new one ?

If I simply past $this->load->database() at the begining of all of my functions, I won't get 2100 simultaneously open connections right ?
I'm pretty sure it's the case, I just wanna be sure.