To celebrate the worldwide annual celebration of Earth Day (April 22, 2012,) Rackspace released an infographic that highlights the impact of cloud computing on the environment.

The infographic is interesting in many ways, especially in the fact that, despite green IT initiatives, global data centers’ energy consumption rises by 19 percent in 2012 alone, posing an ongoing threat to the environment.

Fortunately, the rise of cloud computing can help remedying the issues through better energy allocation, enhanced data center efficiency and improved server utilization. Better yet, the rise of Open Compute, a Facebook initiative to openly share custom data center designs to improve efficiency across the industry.

Open Compute Project creates new efficiencies for data centers using “vanity-free” software with no extra plastic, offering the following: 52 percent less energy than conventional data centers, located in a climate allowing free cooling (like those data centers built in Iceland.)

For more data visualization, check this Rackspace cloud computing infographic out:

Via Rackspace Blog