Green energy and public awareness

Naša družba je prišla do razpotja in pred nami je težka odločitev o naši prihodnosti. Odločitev zadeva vsakega posameznika in družbo kot celoto. Bomo nadaljevali po poti brezobzirnega izkoriščanja naravnih virov, predvsem uporabe fosilnih goriv kot vira energija ali bomo postali nizkoogljična družba, ki smotrno uporablja naravne vire in načrtuje svojo prihodnost na zelenih virih energije. Biosfera, katere del je tudi človek, je nastajala milijone in milijone let. Med biotskimi in abiotskimi dejavniki se je skozi zemeljsko zgodovino vzpostavilo ravnovesje, ki ga je začel človek z okoljskim in ogljičnim odtisom krhati. Da se je nekaj spremenilo, nas dnevno po svetu opozarjajo številni vremenski ekstremi. Velike količine izpustov toplogrednih plinov, ki jih je s svojim načinom življenja ustvaril človek, so botrovale dvigu povprečne temperature ozračja. Podnebnih sprememb se več ne da ustaviti, lahko pa se jih upočasni. Potrebne bodo spremembe, v prvi vrsti radikalno zmanjšanje porabe fosilnih goriv in uporaba obnovljivih ter okolju prijaznih zelenih virov energije. Ob tem se zastavi vprašanje, kako pristopiti do ljudi in jim na ustrezen način predstaviti ta problem ter možne rešitve. V načrtovanje in izvedbo prehoda v nizkoogljično družbo se bomo morali aktivno vključiti vsi. Magistrska naloga predstavlja vpogled v energetsko dogajanje male podeželske občine in preverja odnos njenih občanov do problema onesnaževanja zraka s toplogrednimi plini in prašnimi delci ter prehoda na zelene vire energije. Dolgoročno se bomo morali hote ali nehote vsi odreči energetsko potratnemu načinu življenja oziroma postati nizkoogljična družba, da bodo naši potomci imeli možnost preživetja v takšnem novem in močno spremenjenem okolju.Our society has come to a crossroads facing us with a difficult decision regarding our future. The decision concerns every individual and the society as a whole. Should we pursue the road of careless exploitation of natural resources, especially the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy, or should we become a low-carbon society that rationally uses natural resources and plans its future on renewable energy sources. The biosphere, including the humans who also make part of it, has been created for millions of years. During the earth\u27s history, a balance has been established between the biotic and abiotic factors, that however, has been disturbed by the humans with their impact of environmental and carbon footprint. That something has changed, we are warned every day with a number of weather extremes around the world. The large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions generated by our modern way of living have contributed to an increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere. The climate change process can not be stopped, but it can be slowed down. Dramatic changes are needed, primarily radical reduction of fossil fuel consumption and the use of renewable and environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. This raises the question of how to approach people and present them, in an appropriate way, this problem and possible solutions. All of us have to actively get involved in the planning and implementing of the transition to a low-carbon society. The master thesis presents an insight into the energy performance of a small rural municipality and analyses the attitude of its residents to the problem of air pollution with greenhouse gases and dust particles in view of the transition to renewable sources of energy. In the long term, we will all have to give up, whether desired or not, the energy-wasting way of life and become a low-carbon society so that our descendants will have the opportunity of survival in a new and dramatically changed environment