EN
At present, the man uses different forms of energy. Two forms of energy, i.e. heat and electricity, have found the most important application which decided about development of present state of technology and its derivative, i.e. the technological civilization. Every civilization carries both the progress and the threats, and its development runs from the rise to the fall. The mankind achieved successive higher levels of technology and civilization owing to the progress in energy transformation. The demand on energy results both from human physiology and social functions. In the last decades a very unstable balance between the supply of and demand for energy carriers as well as different dangers related to the efforts to maintain this balance have been observed. The simplest, yet underestimated, activity against wasting energy is rationalization of energy management. In this field two roads are outlined: saving energy and conserving energy. At the present energy crisis the rationalization should not be limited to energy itself, but must also include reduction of harmful environmental effects of energy production and consumption. The aim of this paper is to discuss which one of these two roads may give better chances to avoid an expected global energy disaster. The hitherto prevailing experiences indicate that the idea of energy conservation should be promoted.