The concept of sustainable development has been transferred to the energy sector, resulting in de-fining a new term: the sustainable energy development. Its underlying principle is the efficient use of energy, human, economic and natural resources. Renewable energy sources (RES) play an increasingly important role in the energy mix and in the functioning of local communities. The purpose of this study was to discover the attitude of Polish society towards renewable energy sources, disaggregating the data by gender. Efforts were also made to determine the importance of renewable energy sources for the functioning of a modern society. A diagnostic survey method was used in this study. The survey was conducted with a representative sample of 1067 respondents. The statistical analyses were performed with Statistica 10.1 PL, and were based on the discriminant function with an analysis of the classification function. The respondents declared to save energy by turning off the light when leaving a room, and that they would prefer to use the solar collectors as an alternative future source of energy. In the opinion of respondents, investments in energy significantly contribute to environmental protection. The biggest barriers to the use of renewable energy sources are: the lack of mechanisms supporting the reduction of energy consumption across the economy; the increase in energy prices because of a lack of competition on the wholesale market; and the lack of a coherent policy for sustainable development addressing air protection issues. The respondents were found to significantly differ by gender in their approach to renewable energy sources.