Sustainable development and renewable sources of energy

Abstract

Sustainable development is now the core idea in the UN's and the EU's policies. It assumes changes in human behaviour in relation to other people and the environment and it calls for ending our destructive attitude to the nature and beginning of a real protection. If this change really happens, we will witness Sustainable Development Revolution for the sake of the present and future generations. Perhaps the biggest challenge relates to the energy sector. Our civilization cannot sustain itself without access to electricity and the demand for energy is still growing: it is assumed, that it will double to the year 2040, in comparison with the year 2010. The biggest challenge is, that there are different ways of electricity production with different environmental consequences. Now we are witnessing a shift from coal technologies to sustainable renewable sources of energy. Although they are not environmentally neutral, still are much better than traditional coal power plants. The paper discusses chosen problems connected with the renewable energy sector, showing positive and negative factors, that are influencing the present situation.