The aim of the study was to investigate the attitudes of rural residents towards renewable energy sources. It was conducted in 2010 in 16 Polish voivodships. Energy is a major determinant of economic activity and development of the civilization. It is expected that due to the depletion of resources and the consequent increase of energy prices, the share of conventional fuels: oil, natural gas and coal will be reduced after 2020. The conventional energy sources will be substituted by renewable energy sources. The renewable energy sources can to the certain degree result in improvement of energy security (particularly at the regional level) as well as lower costs of energy consumption. Despite the assumptions that production of biofuels for own needs can reduce the cost of agricultural production, only few farmers decided to produce biofuels. The paper presents the results that allow to identify some of the barriers to the development of production of renewable energy in rural areas. Based on the obtained results the barriers limiting the development of renewable energy sources in rural areas were identified.