The Author presents several methodological aspects referring to photographs as historical sources. In this article it is viewed as an iconographic source. The problem of photographs as iconographic sources is discussed in the context of historical semantics and theory of historical presence.

This is a review article about historical evidences and new methodological proposals presented at the Congress Polish Historians in Olsztyn (2009), edited by Jolanta Kolbuszewska and Rałaf Stobiecki.

The Author disusses Ernst Bernheim’s idea of historical source as it was presented in his “Lehrbuch der historischen Methode und der Geschichtsphilosophie”.

Scientific research on urban and rural layouts should form an important element of studying the history of cities and villages, something which requires a coordination of multiple disciplines. One must make use of source material, yet be able to tell the difference between the source and its interpretation or critique. The importance of source material varies depending on the period and area in question. When investigating Early Medieval Poland, for instance, one should focus on geological and archeological sources. The later periods show a much larger wealth of written sources and accounts. Beginning from the period of founding cities based on German laws in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, city plans and cartographic sources are of increasing value, as they make it possible to perform modular analyses. The role of iconographic source material increases during from the modern period all the way to our times. The method of research here is the correlation of the information gained from these sources onto modern urban layouts. We can interpret the subsequent phases of development based on this. Using modular analysis we can then identify the historical and agricultural conditions of the time. This research should be conducted by a team of academics from various different fields. An example of such a cooperation is the Atlas Miast Polskich (The Atlas of Polish Cities).

The article presents the results of surveys to assess the attractiveness of centralized heat supply systems in comparison with other heat sources. The heat source is an important element of the heat supply system which determines heating costs, comfort and environmental impact. The decision on the choice of the type of heat supply system is usually made by the investor or designer. Sometimes the equipment supplier or contractor has a part in this decision. The choice can be influenced by many different factors, also resulting from the specific location of the building. This is only partly determined by local law in the form of a local spatial development plan. the technical conditions (i.e. availability of heating or gas network), economic and financial, as well as much more subjective factors, such as the designer’s or contractor’s preference are also important. Aversion to district heating is growing, even when there are favorable conditions and the possibility of connecting the building to the heating network. Instead, a gas boiler or electrically powered heat pump is selected. This raises the question of whether such decisions are right and how they can be justified. As a research method, surveys were used, which were conducted among people who already have or will have an impact on design and investment decisions in the near future. The obtained results confirmed a large interest in district heating, appreciating their advantages in comparison with other methods of heat generation. The respondents also had the disadvantages that may lead to the use of an alternative methods of heat supplying in mind.

O najsilniejszym na świecie impulsowym źródle neutronów – cząstek obojętnych elektrycznie.

Jolanta Kolbuszewska: Some words about the most recent russian textbook of theory and methodology of history. The article is a presentation of two russian textbook published in Moskwa.

The article provides calculations and feasibility study of solar power plants implementation for the states of New Jersey, New Mexico and Michigan. The average cost for grid power, average household kwh use per month and average cost for 6-kw system with 26% federal tax credit applied were taken into account. The approach outlined in this article proposes to take into account changes in the value of money, tariffs and period of service of solar power plant.
The conducted research shows that the construction of SPPs in the USA can be profitable in the conditions of constant growth in prices for electricity produced using traditional energy sources. However, with the stability of electricity prices, the use of solar energy is far from the most profitable investment.
It has been proven that there is a need to focus on the research of the latest energy storage and generation technologies in order to reduce the impact of the instability of renewable energy production on the stability of power grids in the future. Further development of SPPs can help increase their availability and competitiveness, which will contribute to the creation of a sustainable and green energy infrastructure. The development of technologies in this area will also lead to a decrease in installation prices and an increase in the efficiency of the panels.
The main limitation of solar power plants is the need for a large area for the installation of panels in order to achieve the level of industrial electricity production. Therefore, now the centralized production of electricity using the sun is possible only in areas that are unsuitable for life and economic activity.

Martin Heidegger in The Origin of the Work of Art (Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes) developed a whole new way of thinking about art, going beyond traditionally understood aesthetics or even philosophy of art. Some of Heidegger’s thoughts, however, appear to be understated and only signal a huge complexity of both experiencing works of art and the very issue of the origin of the work of art. The analysis of the terms ‘dread’ and ‘eyeblink’ from Time and Being presented in this article complement and develop Heidegger’s ideas included in his essay. Linking art to these two crucial phenomena of fundamental ontological analysis of Dasein casts light on the status of art and its existential significance. The author aims mainly at demonstrating the aletheic connection (based on unclosedness) between the experience of ‘originary source’ of a piece of art and ‘dread’, and also, in conclusion, he points to the ‘event of Being’ as the essential, non-metaphysical origin of art.

This article presents various definitions as well as the object and the method ofspiritual theology in the concept of post Vatican Council II. Referring to Western literature the author manifests various efforts in his attempt to define the essence of spiritual theology propagated by Polish theologians from the time of Vatican Council II. Therefore, it is a kind of synthesis of Polish thought portraying various kinds of concepts in the defining of spiritual theology. This article also shows the unique Polish method in the way of proceeding researchin the field of theoretical and experiential mysticism. The author also refers to the spirituality of the religious and to various aspects of the history of Polish spirituality.

Marc Bloch — one of the most distinguished 20th Century historians – is the author of Strange Defeat: A Statement of Evidence Written in 1940. Serving as a staff offi cer, Bloch witnessed the fall of France in 1940 from the front line. This book is so interesting from the methodological point of view, because we are presented here with a historical source created by a historian, who additionally knows how an ideal type of historical evidence ought to be written. This French historian thought that history is also written to give contemporaries lessons on how to avoid the mistakes of the past. This is an important message of Strange Defeat.

The mineralogy and chemistry of Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleocene claystone sediments from Mardin and Batman, southeastern Turkey, were analyzed. The main mineral paragenesis in the Upper Cretaceous member formed chlorite-smectite (C-S) and illite, while the Lower Paleocene member occurred of chlorite-vermiculite (C-V) and vermiculite minerals. The clays were silica-poor but indicated high values of Al, Fe, Mg, Cr, Ni, V, and Zr. Lower contents of the alkali elements (Na, Ca, Mg, K) of the clayey sediments suggests a relatively denser weathering of the source area. The mineralogical compositions, major element ratios, trace, and rare earth element (REE ) contents of the sediments show that the Upper Cretaceous member consists of materials with a mainly felsic source lithology, while relatively contributions from basic sources are found in the Lower Paleocene unit. A comparison of the major and trace element contents of the phyllosilicate/clay minerals with the members revealed that the patterns of the clays were different from each other, although the enrichments/ decreases varied depending on the origin (basement rocks or detrital) of the derived rocks, minerals, and elements. REE content of clays increased from detrital to phyllosilicate/clay minerals of chemical/diagenetic/neoformation origin during the Lower Paleocene. During the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, local or regional geodynamic and diagenetic events largely governed the rock sedimentation processes and provenance variations amongst Germav Formation members.

The paper presents an analysis of the influence of the energy generated from renewable sources on an improvement in the energy efficiency of public utility building and households. It also presents the current state of the technologies for the production of electricity from renewable sources, as well as their share in the national power supply system. The conducted analysis concerns both micro, as well as large systems generating electricity. Systems generating power from renewable sources are gaining in popularity. With an increasing awareness in the society of the beneficial influence that renewable power generating systems have on the environment, as well as the support in form of various programs offering subsidies for the construction of new systems, power generation from renewable sources is becoming increasingly popular and common. Although the renewable energy systems are still not widely considered to be a profitable solution, systems using renewable sources of energy are positively perceived and treated as a new trend in the construction of multi or single-family residential buildings. The increasing share of the renewable energy in the national power supply system significantly reduces the demand for energy produced from conventional sources. This obviously translates into a reduced consumption of primary energy, for example, fossil fuels, and, in turn, leads to the reduced exploitation of natural resources, thus contributing to the protection of the natural environment. A reduced consumption of fossil fuels also means a significant reduction in environmental pollution during their processing into electricity or heat. Actions aiming at improving energy efficiency and reducing final energy consumption are being undertaken by many countries all over the world, and by the European Union. In 2012, the European Parliament and the Council issued Directive 2012/27/EU obliging the Member States to initiate actions aiming at a reduction in the consumption of final energy by 1.5% a year. The paper presents the current status of generation of energy from renewable sources during the last 13 years. The ways for using energy from the renewable sources to improve the energy efficiency of facilities were also discussed.

The article will consider the possibility of using sources in modernising the biological study of existence in history on the basis of selected trends of “modern historiography”. The problem of sources is considered in the context of the use of anthropology of knowledge, historical anthropology, microhistory, and chaos theory in historical-medical research. In this process, I see an opportunity to look for new research spaces and, therefore, ask new questions to source messages or to search for new ones. Therefore, it is important not to forget about the need to base the narrative on the source while introducing methodological innovations.

In this article Author discusses the problem of false interpretations of the earliest history of the Slavic people undertaken by Polish 19th century historians. He also analyses the attitude of various historians towards their colleagues' forgeries.

The energy efficiency of photovoltaic modules is one of the most important aspects in energetic and economic aspects of the project related to system installations. The efficiency of modules and the electricity produced by photovoltaic conversion in solar modules is affected by many factors, both internal, related to the module structure itself and its technical and external factors related to the energy infrastructure, which includes: cabling, inverters, climate conditions prevailing at the micro-installation location and the orientation and angle of inclination of the solar modules. The installation of photovoltaic modules should be preceded by an energy efficiency analysis, which will help to indicate the optimal solution adapted to the given conditions. The article presents a comparative analysis of the amount of energy produced under real and simulated conditions. Analyzes were made on the basis of research carried out in the Wind and Solar Energy Laboratory located at the AGH University of Science and Technology, data from solar irradiation data-bases and computer software for estimating energy resources. The study examined the correlation of the solar irradiation on the modules and the amount of electricity generated in the photovoltaic module. The electricity produced by the module was compared under real conditions and simulated based on two sources of data. The comparison and analysis of the amount of energy of the module were also made, taking simulated different angles of the module’s inclination into account.

Celem każdego rządu jest stworzenie dobrych warunków dla zrównoważonego rozwoju sektora energetycznego, co wiąże się z kolei z rozwojem gospodarki danego kraju. W poszczególnych państwach przyjmuje się indywidualne modele zarządzania sektorem energetycznym. W Polsce coraz częściej podejmowane są próby określenia nowego modelu strategii energetycznej, spełniającego oczekiwania odbiorców, przy jednoczesnym wypełnieniu wymogów stawianych przez Unię Europejską. W niniejszym artykule przeanalizowano klastry funkcjonujące na krajowym rynku. Wskazano ich wspólne i odmienne cechy, a także podkreślono ich rolę w zrównoważonym rozwoju gospodarki.

W artykule przeanalizowano wiele konsekwencji wzrostu penetracji rynku energii elektrycznej przez odnawialne źródła energii, w tym w szczególności źródła niespokojne. Przegląd zagranicznej literatury przedmiotu pozwolił na określenie potencjalnych skutków wzrostu udziału odnawialnych źródeł energii w produkcji ogółem. Do głównych tendencji należą Merit Order Effect, czyli wypychanie energetyki konwencjonalnej, spadek cen na rynku hurtowym oraz silna ujemna korelacja cen energii elektrycznej na rynku spot z wielkością generacji wiatrowej. Określone zostały również niezbędne kierunki rozwoju i konieczne do wprowadzenia zmiany na polskim rynku energii. Konsekwencją rozwoju generacji w źródłach niespokojnych jest wzrost zmienności cenowej na rynku spot, co prowadzi do zwiększenia ryzyka systematycznego uczestnictwa w rynku energii. Wzrost zmienności cen energii powoduje z kolei konieczność ponoszenia coraz wyższych kosztów bilansowania obciążających wynik finansowy sprzedawców zobowiązanych. Wielkość ponoszonych kosztów rośnie wraz z zwiększającym się udziałem produkcji OZE, a w szczególności niespokojnych źródeł wytwórczych takich jak farmy wiatrowe. Istnieje zatem konieczność wprowadzenia zmian w systemie funkcjonowania OZE na rynku konkurencyjnym. Poziom rozwoju rynku OZE oraz jego rosnący udział pozwala sądzić, że wytwórcy OZE powinni wziąć większą odpowiedzialność za koszty bilansowania handlowego. Dalsze przenoszenie kosztów na spółki zobowiązane może doprowadzić do trwałej utraty pozycji konkurencyjnej na rynku względem spółek, które takim kosztem nie są obarczone.

The future and development of energy is one of the most important problems in both domestic and global politics. Limiting the use of fossil fuels in the energy sector results from new legal conditions related to the protection of the natural environment. These changes require the development of a new energy strategy, taking the limits of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union and the requirements of the Community energy policy into account. One of the documents affecting the structure of Poland’s energy mix is the Directive on renewable energy sources (2009/28/EC). Poland has committed to achieving the goal of a 15% share of energy from renewable sources (RES) in gross final energy consumption by 2020. Current changes in Polish RES support systems – in particular the transition from the system of green certificates to auctions for green energy – may threaten the achievement of the above-mentioned goal. The article analyzes whether Poland will meet renewable energy obligations by 2020 under the current conditions. In addition, the article presents current energy consumption in the world and in the country, legal conditions taken into account when creating the country’s energy mix and forecasts of renewable energy demand.

In spite of technological, logistic and economic difficulties, interest in renewable energy sources in the world is consistently increasing. This trend is also observed in Poland, mainly due to the urgent need to tackle the problem of climate change, which is caused by the increasing concentration of gaseous pollutants in the atmosphere. The paper presents a short script of the issue of estimating renewable energy resources in Poland in the context of creating local low carbon economy plans at the level of municipalities/counties where RES sources should be taken into account. The author proposed an individual approach to estimate the potential of RES, taking the local conditions and the short characteristics of the small and medium companies sector in Poland into account. These companies have a great application potential to increase the share of renewable energies and to improve energy efficiency in their business. The actions, which are taken by the Ministry of Energy in the field of civil energy development, enhancing local energy security and the sustainable development of renewable energy resources support the development of energy clusters covering one district or five municipalities. In the article, the author presents data on the number of companies possessing a concession for generating electricity in RES installations in the power range from 40 kW to 200 kW. These companies can largely be the nucleus for creating a local cluster in which microgrids will be a key element.

This essay contains reflections on the problems of discourse that appear in analyzing written historical sources. The author refers to Krzysztof Gajewski’s book, Reprezentacje komunizmu. PRL z perspektywy badań literackich i kulturowych [The Representation of Communism: The PPR from the Perspective of Literary and Cultural Studies] (2018). The primary findings concern the necessity of taking into account the linguistic framework of the given era.

Obszary wiejskie zajmują ponad 93% terytorium Polski, na którym mieszka blisko 40% ludności kraju. Wzrost zapotrzebowania na energię na tych obszarach, w połączeniu ze zwiększonym jej zużyciem przez rolnictwo, wymusza na mieszkańcach wsi efektywniejsze jej wykorzystanie, a na politykach opracowanie strategii bezpieczeństwa energetycznego polskiej wsi. Wieś w dużym stopniu związana jest z produkcją oraz przetwórstwem żywności, w którym to istotne znaczenie przypisuje się gospodarstwom rolnym. Obecnie powinny być one postrzegane z jednej strony jako użytkownik energii, a z drugiej jako producent komponentów do produkcji energii lub energii finalnej, na podstawie odnawialnych źródeł energii. Dlatego ważną rolę w aspekcie zrównoważonej gospodarki energetycznej na obszarach wiejskich przypisuje się polityce energetycznej, uwzględniającej dbałość o środowisko naturalne tych obszarów oraz zachowanie ich bioróżnorodności. Mieszkańcy wsi, a przede wszystkim rolnicy, powinni zmienić swój wizerunek, związany głównie z użytkownikiem energii na konsumenta i jednocześnie producenta energii, a energetyka prosumencka i rozproszona powinna stać się istotna nie tylko ze względów ekonomicznych, ale także środowiskowych. Konieczne jest podkreślenie znaczenia zrównoważonego rozwoju obszarów wiejskich, opartego na odnawialnych źródłach energii i związanej z tym poprawie warunków środowiskowych polskiej wsi, a także jakości życia jej mieszkańców. Celem artykułu jest wskazanie kierunków rozwoju zrównoważonego gospodarki energetycznej na obszarach wiejskich Polski, uwzględniając energię wykorzystywaną we współczesnym rolnictwie, z akcentem położonym na odnawialne źródła energii.

The large variability and unpredictability of energy production from photovoltaic power microinstallations results from the dependence on the current weather conditions. These conditions depend on a number of factors and are variable over the time. Despite this specificity, photovoltaic micro-installations are becoming more and more popular in the world and in Poland. This is mainly due to the fact that the generation of energy from renewable sources has numerous advantages, the energy is free, renewable in time and ecological, and its production on its own gives partial independence from energy supplies from the power grid. In addition, the observed significant prices decrease of solar modules has further accelerated the development of the use of this energy source. Concern for this method of energy production among households has increased significantly in Poland after introducing the prosumer in the legal framework and the use of administrative and financial support. The implemented prosumer mechanisms allowed, for example, the net balancing of the energy consumed and produced by the micro-installation through storage in the power grid. The article describes the problem of balancing sources using solar energy, based on micro-installation used in the household (the so-called prosumer installation). The conducted analyses compared the load profile of a typical household and the energy generation profile from a photovoltaic installation, determining the real balancing formation level of such a system.