Energetic and engineering municipal infrastructure in forming the development quality of the polish Carpathians

The reduction of the disproportions between municipal infrastructure between rural and urban areas is one of crucial aspects of equalization of standards of life in mountainous area. Paper describes specific problems related to construction and operation of water supply and sewage systems in Polish Carpathian region, where on the one hand, the infrastructure expenses per capita, especially in case of water supply and sewage, are much higher in rural areas than in cities, and on the other hand the infrastructure investments in mountain areas prove to be much more effective than in the case of lowland regions of the same voivodeship. Similar investigations were made with respect to the energy infrastructure. The energy infrastructure problems identified in Carpathian area cannot be solved without strong restrictions in terms of air protection. Paper presents special solutions, dedicated to these specific regions, for hot water heating, district heating systems and ventilation with lower demand for primary energy (fossil fuels). The general idea assumes that the system would consist of a local heating network conveying heat to the buildings which would not have to be equipped with heating boilers. Such a concept could be a model solution for a large part of the Polish Carpathians, considering the large potential of available biomass as well as the mastered technologies of biogas production.