Energy saving tips for Google Chrome. How do I make Google Chrome use less battery? And does the battery last longer?
The answer to this is, yes. There are some simple tips you can apply to make Google Chrome more energy efficient.
Google Chrome, like any other web browser on any operating system, is a major energy consumer. This is because Google Chrome runs some processes in the background that ensure that the websites are displayed properly.
Let me start with the simplest way to make Google Chrome more energy efficient.
Update Google Chrome to the latest version
To save energy with Google Chrome, it is important that you always have the latest version of Google Chrome installed.
To update Google Chrome to the latest version, open Google Chrome, click on the menu at the top right and click on Help and then About Google Chrome.
The chrome://settings/help menu will then open and Google Chrome will search for the latest version. When found, Google Chrome will install these updates.
The Great Suspender extension
One of the most power-consuming features in Google Chrome is tabs. If tabs are left open, they constantly consume computer memory.
This is where the browser extension is: The Great Suspender comes in handy. This browser extension ensures that you can reduce the tabs and their energy consumption.
After installing The Great Suspender extension, you can change the settings for tabs.
Pause Google Chrome tabs to save energy
You can set a time after which tabs are automatically paused. If a tab is paused, you can see this by the icon of the website (favorite icon) turning grayish.
If you go back to the paused tab you will see that The Great Suspender has replaced the tab with a refresh page. If you click in the tab, The Great Suspender will load the tab again from the point where the website was paused.
To avoid having to click to reload the website, it is also possible to restore the tab automatically.
In the Suspended tabs menu you will see an option: Automatically unsuspend tab when it is viewed.
If you enable this option, you no longer have to click to reload the website tab.
Tab Discarding
Since version 46 of Google Chrome, Chrome now also allows users to enable tab discarding without the use of a browser extension.
This offers some advantages. The tabs are managed by Google Chrome itself, without any addition of an extension. This makes Chrome faster and more effective.
In addition, tab discarding in Google Chrome is fully automatic and most importantly; it preserves data such as form data and content, page position and preserves the navigation to go to the previous page.
Even though Google Chrome closes the tabs, the tab remains visible and no data is lost.
Enable tab discarding
Open the Google Chrome browser. In the navigation bar type (or copy and paste): chrome://flags/#enable-tab-discarding
Set the option: Automatic tab discarding to Enabled. Now restart Google Chrome to apply the settings.
To manage the tabs and for more technical information, you can open the following page in the navigation bar of Google Chrome: chrome://discards
You will find more information about Google Discarding on the following page: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2015/09/tab-discarding
Close background apps
If you close Google Chrome, background apps will remain active in Google Chrome for Microsoft Windows.
These background apps ensure that Google Chrome will start faster next time and plug-ins or extensions will perform actions in the background.
Disabling background apps when Google Chrome is closed results in significant energy savings.
Open Google Chrome, click the Google Chrome menu and select Settings. Navigate down and select Advanced.
Navigate down to Background apps Continue running when Google Chrome is closed and uncheck the option.