We all have experienced slow emulator on Mac, Linux and Windows (especially windows) because of which we use virtualization images of Android i.e. Genymotion, etc. So, if you are running your OS on Intel processor then you can use Intel HAXM (Hardware Acclerated Execution Manager) to speedup your emulator.
Following are the links which discuss as to how to implement HAXM:
For Windows and Linux: http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/speeding-up-the-android-emulator-on-intel-architecture
For Mac: http://simonguest.com/2013/04/16/enabling-x86-android-emulation/