Battery Life and Energy Efficiency

Energy efficient hardware design and software implementation are critical for achieving extended battery life in mobile platforms.

Battery Life Solutions
White PaperMobile Battery Life Solutions: A Guide for Mobile Platform Professionals  
Information about designing and configuring mobile PCs to provide for maximum battery life

Energy Efficient Design for Battery Life
White PaperDesigning Power-Friendly Devices
Design concepts and recommendations for multicore platforms, PCI Express 2.0. and USB 2.0
White PaperPower Policy Configuration and Deployment in Windows Vista
Power policy store, power policy configuration and reference, how to use PowerCfg tool
White PaperProcessor Power Management in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
ACPI PPM features, Windows power policy, firmware guide, tools and processes for optimizing processor power policy
White PaperVSync Control in Windows Vista SP1
WDDM and registry changes to control the monitor refresh rate, for significant energy savings on mobile PCs.
White PaperWindows Disk Idle Detection
Windows infrastructure details, guide for pre-install power policies, how to PwrTest to view disk idle behavior
White PaperWindows Vista Energy Conservation
Features that promote power savings and estimates of PC power consumption and savings

Enery Efficiency for Driver Developers
White PaperDriver Support for Runtime Idle Detection
How drivers for USB and other devices can increase system power efficiency
White PaperPlug and Play and Power Management in WDF Drivers
Callback sequences, advances KMDF power management; details for software-only and simple hardware drivers

Energy Efficiency for Application Developers
White PaperApplication Power Management Best Practices for Windows Vista
Handling sleep/resume, design for common events and media PC scenarios, how to use Power Event Monitoring Tool
Microsoft.comApplication Shutdown Behavior in Windows Vista
Microsoft.comPower and Device Awareness
Tips in the Mobile PC User Experience Guidelines for Developers

Measuring and Optimizing Power Performance
White PaperMeasuring System Resume Performance on Windows Vista
Concepts and methodology for S3 measures; how to use WDK tools; driver tips for fast resume performance
White PaperOptimizing Windows Vista Platforms for Energy Efficiency
Tips for extending battery life; how to evaluate; example power policy settings to favor power savings

Tools for Testing Energy Efficiency and Power Events
White PaperPower Event Monitoring Tool Sample Application
Visual Studio example code for responding to common power events
Microsoft.comPerfmon – performance monitoring
Performance counting, performance logs and alerts, and System Monitor information
Microsoft.comPowercfg – advanced policy parameters
Command-line documentation
Microsoft.comPwrTest - viewing PPM states and transitions
Details on WDK tool for automating S3 behavior

Tips from Experts: Energy Efficient Design
Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)Designing Power Friendly Devices [WinHEC 2007; 13.5 MB]
Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)Integrating Drivers and Applications with Windows Power Management
Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)PCs and Energy: Efficiency Implications for OEMs and IHVs [WinHEC 2007; 416 KB]
Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)Power Optimizations for Windows Platforms [WinHEC 2007; 2.1 MB]
Microsoft.comHow To: Use Windows Vista Power Management APIs to Be A Good Laptop Citizen (Channel 9)

PnP and Power Developer References
Windows LogoWindows Logo Program Requirements and Policies
Microsoft.comPower Management (MSDN Library)
Microsoft.comWDK Online

See Also
WHDC Portal/NodalPower Management and ACPI