AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MIT and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center unveiled a prototype of a data center Friday.

There they will be able to study how to improve energy efficiency in future data center design. Computing and data centers require large amounts of energy to operate and to keep computers cool, sometimes as much as a small city.

The data center will run completely on solar panels. Prashand Shely, a UMass Professor said, “What we have built is solar power data center they run off renewable power, renewable cooling. So they have zero effect on the environment.”

This system is the first of its kind in New England.