The search for opportunities to save and use energy efficiently should primarily focus on sectors of the economy
with the highest energy consumption. One such sector is construction. Buildings built in Poland in different
periods according to the introduced and successively tightened thermal protection requirements have different
energy characteristics, which differ from contemporary standards and future expectations in this respect. This
article presents guidelines for the energy transformation of building resources towards climate neutrality and
the condition of these resources in Poland to an extent relevant for estimating the energy savings potential
as a result of their thermal modernization. The economic aspect relating to the implementation of the energy
policy is also presented. Over the last twenty years, there has been a nearly 37% increase in final energy consumption and a close to 34% decrease in final energy intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) recorded in
Poland, which proves that energy efficiency is growing virtually without increasing energy demand. Significant
potential for rationalizing energy consumption is found, as well as the need to incur high costs relating to the
construction sector transformation. The problem is the lack of databases on the technical condition, age, and
energy performance of various groups of buildings, which means it is difficult to determine the thermal modernization needs and the achievable effects of energy savings for the entire building stock. Some inconveniences
relating to the implementation of zero-emission guidelines are also pointed out due to the fact that the Polish
energy system is largely based on fossil fuels.