SCOTLAND so far has made great strides in wind power, so much so that when you can hear the wind blow today, you can say that Scotland is generating sufficient power for all our needs.

To achieve this required vision by engineers and the courage of politicians to enact legislation to make it happen. We have much to thank Denmark for. They were the pioneers of wind power and began back in the 70s when Opec raised the oil price.

Scotland, however, has an additional advantage over Denmark and that is our geography. We are a mountainous country, which gives us the answer to the question “What about when there is no wind?” This is the case rarely, about 60 days a year, but it does happen, and that’s where our mountains come in.

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Hydro power is the answer. Scotland could be self-sufficient in electrical power all the time, in spite of all. We have the potential to unlock masses of power, enough to power all the electrical vehicles such as trains, cars and trams that we want as well as exporting power through our “smart grid”. 

Hydro power would ensure that Scotland met its commitments to the carbon-free Scotland we all dream of now.  

How much hydro power do we need? Enough to cope with Scotland’s forecast of increasing load so if we match wind and hydro we can be self-sufficient and more every day. Pricing is for others.

We need independence to ensure this is possible.

J B Clark
Dunfermline

I AGREE with George M Mitchell’s proposal (Letters,  November 25) that hydrogen engines would be a better solution than going all-out for electric vehicles. Mr Mitchell indicates: “Perhaps the solution will lie with hydrogen engine units when they are developed.” 

There are in fact hydrogen-powered buses already operating in Aberdeen using hydrogen produced by on-site electrolysis. Backed by Scottish Government 
and EU funding, there is a small fleet of vehicles in Orkney fuelled with hydrogen produced by electrolysers using renewable electricity from wind and tidal energy when electrical supply exceeds demand. In fact there are websites offering to convert petrol and diesel cars to hydrogen.  

Given the climate emergency, let’s concentrate on researching improvements and advancing the use of hydrogen vehicles as a matter of urgency.

Jim Stamper
Bearsden

I WOULD like to heartily endorse Tuesday’s letter by Morag Forsyth. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Jeane Freeman is one of this government's bright lights. 

An individual of obvious integrity, she has often struck me as one of this country’s politicians who see clearly the real issues on most given subjects.

At no time has her clear-sighted policy-making, and ability to hold up her hands and take responsibility for matters surrounding her brief, been given any credit by our Unionist-tainted media. It is no accident that she has been chosen specifically as the latest target for “bad SNP” sniping. As one of our best, it would be a feather in the cap of the Unionists to bring her down, so let there be no mealy-mouthed pandering to this orchestrated slandering, which is taking place not with genuine concern for our health service but purely for point-scoring political reasons. 

It is accepted there are real problems for our health service and when lives are lost or people suffer, let any outcry be for the proper reasons. Otherwise it is a cheap insult to those families who have suffered.

Jeane Freeman has undertaken a colossal task and is painstakingly trying to re-construct and drive our health service forward to be the best it can be. To that end she needs the support of people who have the desire to see an improved service.

John Murphy
via email

I WRITE this in response to Les Hunter’s Long Letter (November 25). I have to say I agree 100% with the sentiments expressed in relation to the dreadful and tragic loss of any child. I also empathise completely with the parents involved. Jackson Carlaw is, in my opinion, nothing but a self-serving, opportunistic chancer who will stoop to any depths, including using someone else’s pain and distress to promote himself. I am not trying to absolve the hospital or the health Secretary from any responsibility. However, I feel that a proper inquiry should be instituted, and until its findings are concluded, Carlaw and vultures like him should desist from making political capital from other people’s pain. 

Ronnie Simpson
Glasgow

WATCHING and reading about the constant barrage of outrage and criticism being rained on Jeane Freeman, it has become obvious that her detractors offer no solutions. And here’s the thing – they don’t want to solve any problems, only to gleefully trot out an SNP bad story in the middle of an election campaign. Vultures, every one of them! 

Cameron M Fraser
Bannockburn