GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide by Graham Williams
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Power Management

CPU frequency scaling works following the advice on http://tkrat.org/d810/ and the README.Debian in the powernowd package. Ensure the relevant modules are loaded at boot by adding the following to /etc/modules

  cpufreq_userspace 
  speedstep_centrino

Then install powernowd (the standard Debian kernels have the appropriate configuration).

The powernowd daemon measures the CPU load and based on this will step the frequency of the CPU to slow it down if the CPU is not being used, and thus saves power. By default, once the package is installed, the daemon will switch to full power once the CPU usage goes above 80%.