Ubuntu 12.04 high CPU usage and high temperature

Question

Ubuntu 12.04 on my laptop uses more than 50 percents of each core even if nothing is running. I have checked from system monitor and from htop, both of them show that each of 4 CPUs percentage is above 50 percents. I have run sensors to check the temperature these are results when only firefox is running:

acpitz-virtual-0 Adapter: Virtual device temp1: +80.0°C (crit = +108.0°C)

asus-isa-0000 Adapter: ISA adapter temp1: +80.0°C

coretemp-isa-0000 Adapter: ISA adapter Physical id 0: +82.0°C (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) Core 0: +82.0°C (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) Core 1: +74.0°C (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

What can be problem?

EDIT: My Laptop: ASUS U36SD RX167V Intel Core i7-2620M 8GB RAM Nvidia Geforce GT520M

Bumblebee did not help

Answer 1

The problem might be your graphics card consuming more power. I had a similar problem and I installed Bumblebee. Now I get approx. 2 hrs. of battery life and 65°C temp.(on prolonged use).

Bumblebee's site

Also take a look at this : How do I enable/disable graphics card at will without logging out?