UCSD computer-science professors have developed software that lets desktop computers continue to function in sleep mode; it could reduce the energy consumption of office networks by around 60 percent.

Software running on a remote server maintains a version of each PC’s operating systems and applications. The software, called SleepServer, carries on tasks on behalf of the desktop machine while it is put into a low-energy sleep mode.

The energy savings come from the fact that each server can host up to 500 virtual machines.