MBP Runs Hot, Battery Life is Dismal

Hi,
Ever since I updated the OS X from 10.6 to 10.7 (I am on 10.7.1 now), my MBP is running very hot once in a while (usually about hourly) with no apparent reason. The processor is used up to 100%, the fans work at maximum speed and I cannot keep the computer on my lap as it burns my legs. The battery life is dismal compared to what it used to be. For example, right now it shows 75% full but the estimated remaining time is only 1h30mins.
The Activity Monitor shows the following processes chocking up the processor: mds, kernel_task and four separate instances of mdworker. I also noticed that these use up the processor when the Time Capsule volume is mounted but Time Machine does not necessarily do an active backup at that time. (Before, on 10.6, the TC drive unmounted immediately after a backup was completed. In 10.7 this may or may not be the case, the drive may unmount way later after a backup is completed.)
What did Apple do to Lion? On Snow Leopard, my MBP's battery life was 5-6 hours. Now, if I reach 3 hours, I consider myself lucky. What is going on, and is there a fix to this issue?
Thank you.

Michael9009 wrote:
But none of these things were happening before in Snow Leopard. The problems have begun in Lion. My battery life has decreased by at least 3 hours, on average, in Lion versus what it was in Snow Leopard. It seems Apple has screwed up seriously this time.
This does seem to be a new problem in Lion. Just because it happens to me and you doesn't mean anyone else is necessarily affected. I am a developer and doing all sorts of strange things to my machine. Perhaps you have some different issue that is causing the problem.
I am afraid I cannot erase the Time Capsule. All my important historic backups are there.
Time Machine is a backup program. It isn't an archive program. If you wish to have a historical archive, Time Machine isn't the best place.
Also, that is a worst-case solution. You can let the rebuilt happen and/or repair both your Time Machine and startup volumes. All paths start at the end of an ethernet cable.

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    I found a process related to Safari 4 called Safari Webpage Preview Fetcher that ran a lot. It's how Tops Sites gets page previews. I now avoid using Tops Sites, especially on our slower G4 Macs which constitute the majority of our household Mac-ness. That process really gummed the works in those older Macs, all running 10.4.11.
    You might want to repeat the question in the Snow Leopard forums. Someone more familiar with SL may see a pattern in the shutdowns and stalls. The 10.6 forums are here:
    http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=263
    Keep us posted.
    Allan

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