The invention discloses a method for preparing nanocellulose at low energy consumption. The method comprises the steps of soaking natural cellulose into a sodium hydroxide solution, and soaking at the temperature of 5-40 DEG C for 1-30 minutes to obtain a mixed solution; weighing sodium hydroxide and ethanol, and mixing sodium hydroxide and ethanol, then, adding the mixture into the mixed solution, heating the reactant to 50-78 DEG C while slowly stirring, then, adding sodium chloroacetate, reacting for 2.5-4 hours, then, filtering, and washing with distilled water until the solution is neutral to prepare treated cellulose; then, mixing the solution and water to prepare a cellulose mixed solution with the mass percentage of 0.5-1.4%; next, shearing under the mechanical action; and finally, filtering or carrying out centrifugal separation to prepare the nanocellulose. By using the method disclosed by the invention, the preparation time of the nanocellulose can be shortened to 3-4 hours, the yield is high, the consumption of a reaction reagent is low, the consumption of sodium chloroacetate is low, and the caused environment pollution is low; and the method is low in energy consumption, stable in process, good in repeatability, mild in condition, simple and convenient to operate and suitable for large-scale popularization.