I just got a new MacBook Air and immediately started having a problem that I traced to the Folding program. Whenever I plug my Air into its power adapter, the fans rev up to full speed and the internal temp jumps 20+ degrees celsius.
I eventually realized it is a software problem and through a process of trial and error, traced it to the file "org.foldingathome.fahclient.plist" which is located in the LauchDaemons folder of the System Library. Removing it fixed the problem but seems (not surprisingly) to render the software useless. I redownloaded and re-installed, and the fans immediately kicked back in again.
Seems like the daemon is not playing nice with Catalina.
Actually the software is doing exactly what it would do absent any setup being changed from the defaults set at installation time. For a laptop those defaults include only running when attached to power and using only half the available CPU threads on a Light slider setting.
The that .plist handles starting up the FAHClient process in the background. It uses very little CPU time or other resources as it just handles starting and stopping work being processed, and the download and upload of WUs and other support files. When the computer is on power for a laptop and/or on Idle if thatis set, FAHClient starts up a folding core to work on the WU in a separate process. If the computer use changes to active or the power is not attached, it stops processing.
Now with multi-core CPUs that may include Intel's HT becoming the norm, half the CPU threads may be more than you want to use for power or heat reasons. To adjust settings beyond the default slider settings available through Web Control you will need to use the advanced control - FAHControl. That and some other items are located in the Folding@home folder that gets installed in your Applications folder.
Not knowing which MacBook Air you have, I don't know how many CPU threads its processor supports. To change from the default, open FAHControl. Then click on Configure after it has connected to the rest of the folding client. Click on the Slots tab, and select the CPU slot by clicking on that, and then Edit. Change the CPU thread count from '-1' which leaves it to the software and the slider position to a number between 1 and the maximum number of threads you processor supports. Then Okay the change and Save it.
iMac 2.8 i7 12 GB smp8, Mac Pro 2.8 quad 12 GB smp6
MacBook Pro 2.9 i7 8 GB smp3
