BRIAN Lawson, in his letter of Wednesday, does not seem too convinced about changing domestic energy use in Scotland. He indicates that Scotland is a low-emissions state, but to me this is not a reason for not improving further. The fact that someone else is worse does not mean we should belittle our efforts.

So many of those who only look at initial cost do not address the long-term cost to the individual. If you can afford it, you should afford it. I took the plunge starting some years ago and now reap the benefits. My fuel bills are much reduced and I get fluffy bunny bonus points. I hate to think what my bills would not be like if I had not done so.

Scotland is up to the neck in renewable energy, so let’s use it. The new licences given this week in Scotland’s territorial waters will further add to this, and when the freedom plebiscite declares our return to independence we can nationalise all energy sources and supply. Compensation being paid by the profits already made by the present companies.

M Ross
Aviemore

WHILE I welcome the potential of jobs in the renewables sector (Scotland set for wind boom ‘like black gold rush’, Jan 16), no mention is made that we had an existing wind tower manufacturing facility at Macrihanish, Campbeltown.

Due to the “stop/start” nature of the procurement process this is now either closed or mothballed. It’s not certain whether the recent Korean owners CS Wind have asset-stripped the equipment, but if not, every effort should be made by the

Scottish Government to re-activate the site to play its part in this coming “boom” and provide much-needed jobs in this area and the wider supply chain.

Are the local MP and MSP on the case?

John Macleod
Milngavie

PUMPED storage hydro, the answer to much of Scotland’s electricity needs, is being neglected. There are a good number of these very large systems which are carbon-neutral, can run all the time, and can start up almost instantaneously. There seems to be a campaign to sideline/ignore/suppress the existence of this green system.

Some of the large ones like Cruachan may only run for five minutes(!) in a day – to fill in gaps in supplies generated by nuclear, coal, oil, gas, “bio”mass. These should be put to active use all the time, and made available to the people of Scotland, rather than PAYING to go on the grid.

READ MORE: Where are the 17 projects based and how much energy can they make?

There are many smaller hydro schemes which have deliberately understated their capacity to get the subsidy for schemes producing less than a certain figure. These should work at their proper capacity all the time. There is also the possibility of getting much more water power with the small (2-metre) “screws” – which do not affect fish – in rivers. This would be fine for local use.

Since we also have masses of tidal, off-shore and on-shore potential – the most wind and greatest tidal range in most of Europe – a proper energy strategy would be able to phase out all the other fossil fuel very quickly, and it would cost much less for customers, as well as the planet.

It is time for the Scottish Government to set up a proper Scottish energy system that is local and, as on some of the islands, passed in Scots Law. And if there is any objection ... time to withdraw from the Treaty.

Susan FG Forde
Scotlandwell

AS David Pratt so wisely implies, there is great danger that the complexities of international treaties and the folly of UK separation from mainland Europe will encourage Russian expansionism and that Nato treaties would drag us into war, just as we have been dragged out of the EU (‘Drumbeat of war’ gets louder, Jan 16).

I am terrified that a clown like Johnson is anywhere near power at this time. Putin is yet another dictator requiring brave facing down, and a united Europe can do that. But Boris? I thank God that my sons are too old to be liable for service, but my grandsons and nephews are growing up and I am very aware that the whole of the Clyde Estuary is sharp up the front line.

Regardless of who in the Tory party is belittled by whom, we in Scotland need to rid ourselves of these imperial buffoons and gain freedom to express our unique voice in the councils of the world.

KM Campbell
Doune

HAMISH MacPherson describes the struggle for independence of the people of South Yemen as the “Aden Insurgency” (The regiment that made headlines across the world, Jan 18). He has previously described the resistance of indigenous South African farmers to attempts by invading Europeans to steal their lands as the Xhosa uprising and the rebellion by Indian workers against the capitalist East India Company as a mutiny. I am interested in which epithet he would use to describe our current struggle for independence. Is it a mutiny or a rebellion?

Trying to glorify our past enthusiasm for shoring up England’s empire by employing muskets against pitchforks does us no service.

Ian Richmond
Springfield