# Energy Efficiency Policies to Face Buildings' Climate Change Effects in Paraguay
## 3 Review of Paraguayan Actions
### The Road Toward EE in Paraguay
The leaders have understood the achievements that could be reached with the implementation of EE measures and how they can contribute to the sustainable development of all economic activities, and the reasons why it is expected that the actions focused on this field will be soon intensified [52]. [PERSON] et al. [37] stated that, since 1970, primary energy production and supply in Paraguay has increased more than six-fold. The country's energy matrix is characterised by a high supply of primary  
Figure 3: Evolution of energy intensity of South American countries [56]. energy from renewable and local sources, and this clean energy represents the highest rate in South America and the Caribbean. However, as previously mentioned, only 18% of the energy consumed corresponds to electric energy. Paraguay has two hydroelectric dams that are among the largest in the world that generate 85% of all electricity exported to South America, the Itaipu Hydroelectric plant alongside Brazil and the Yacyreta Hydroelectric Plant alongside Argentina [57]. According to the international treaties, 50% of the production of these hydroelectric plants represents Paraguay's needs, and if this production is greater than the local consumption, the surplus is sold to the partner countries according to the prices stipulated in the treaty. On average, Paraguay earns USD 500 million of revenue per year because of the sale of hydroelectric energy. In 2012, one-third of this amount was expended to import oil derivatives [29; 58]. It is estimated that the surplus of electricity production, concerning consumption, ensures Paraguay's availability of energy until 2030, considering that growth will remain the same as the last 20 years [37]. According to the historical evolution of the national energy balances, during the period 2006 to 2010, the final energy consumption presented a growth with an annual average rate of 4.21%, resulting in lower availability of energy for export. From the year 2009, this situation meant a structural change in energy destinations due to final consumption levels exceeding energy export levels since the percentage of exports used to be greater than the percentage of final energy consumption [52]. These data are important because the implementation of EE measures to produce local energy savings will help in ensuring availability for energy export [9]. Another problem the country faces is that due to the poor conditions of the electricity distribution networks, several regions suffer numerous blackouts, mainly in the summer season, since the high temperatures cause an increase in the consumption values because of the high use of HVAC systems [37]. These interruptions in energy supply will become more frequent in the future due to the economic and population growth that will increase energy demand, together with the lack of economic resources for the improvement of the transmission system [59]. Although investment is planned every year for the improvement of the electricity system, the expected results have not yet been achieved. Therefore, it is important to consider that the high-energy demands, which cause the collapse of transmission and distribution lines, can be reduced through the increase of EE. This is especially true in the building sector since with more efficient buildings, the electrical system could operate more efficiently because the energy demands would decrease. In summary, Paraguay produces five times more electric energy than it consumes and has hydroelectric power plants which generate the world's greatest amount of electricity without being polluting energy. Due to all these factors, the country disregarded having an energy policy that strongly promotes the use of other renewable energies and EE, and thus users do not give importance to energy-efficient use. Nevertheless, the increasing energy demand has forced the leaders to initiate a process of promoting energy-efficient use and the country is beginning to become aware of its importance and the benefits that could be achieved.