As many companies strive to bring green IT solutions, a new study by Pike Research shows that cloud computing could cut data center energy consumption by as much as one-third by 2020.

The clean technology marketing firm said the cloud could reduce data center energy consumption by 31 percent from 2010 to 2020. Cloud computing revenue is slated to grow by about 29 percent in the next decade, according to Pike senior analyst Eric Woods. He said the reduction in energy use is even more significant, with massive investments in new data center technologies and cloud computing leading to what he calls "unprecedented efficiencies."

"Simply put, clouds are less expensive to operate, consume less energy, and have higher utilization rates than traditional data centers," according to Pike Research. "As a result, the transition to the cloud will continue to accelerate, and much of the work done today in internal data centers will be outsourced to the cloud by the end of the decade."

Pike forecasts spending on energy efficient data options will grow by nearly six times by 2015, according to research from August of 2010. At that point, $7.5 billion was spent on green data centers globally, whereas in 2015 Pike said it would rise to $41.4 billion.