Power saving for laptops

sudo apt-get install powertop indicator-power upower laptop-mode-tools

then run the following

gksu lmt-config-gui ;for laptop mode tools
sudo powertop --calibrate ;note will run for some time

turn off bluetooth, check power settings for suspends

1). Enter the following in terminal: sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

2). Enter: rfkill block bluetooth

Suspend and hibernate

Suspend saves everthing to RAM, hibernate to disk. Suspend wakes up faster, Hibernate saves your batteries more.

Ubuntu guide how to hibernate my computer and test it

Hibertnate will not wake up properly with an encrypted swap partition by default. This is how to go about getting it to work

Archlinux page on suspend and hibernate

good Archlinux thread on troubleshooting

A great article on various types of suspend and hibernate, how to check if your machine works with the kernel or requires different types of suspend / hibernates