Sustainable energy and development of renewable energy sources in Żywiec District (Silesian Voivodeship)

Climate change and human activity are the main threats to rural areas and surrounding cities. The effects of climate change are mainly an increasing temperature, but also the intensity and frequency of extreme events. Climate change and its consequences are a growing problem. One of the ways to mitigate climate change, improve the quality of the natural environment and meet international obligations is sustainable energy management and the use of renewable energy sources (the RES). The aim of the study was to evaluate the energy economy, in particular the use of the RES in the Żywiec district in 2015–2020. In the rural areas of the Żywiec district, the preferred RES are solar energy (for all communities), energy from biomass and biogas from agricultural biogas plants. It has been assumed that the increase in the use of renewable energy (in this case PV installations) in the areas in question was mainly caused by the economic incentives. After the initial period (2015–2018) of lack of interest, there was a significant increase in the number of RES installations installed. PV installations prevailed. After the analysis, it seems that the increase in interest and installation of PV installations was mainly due to attractive, local subsidy programs, which significantly improved operational efficiency and shortened the payback time on investments in photovoltaic micro-installations. The adopted hypothesis was confirmed.