Letters: Festival Square's unwatched giant telly is such a turn off

What an incredible waste of valuable energy to be broadcasting BBC news all day long to an empty square.

I recently overheard a tourist joking that the Sheraton must not provide TVs in their rooms.

It's supposed to screen the 2012 Olympics but I just can't see why anyone would choose to spend much time in that grass-less square next to one of the busiest, fume-laden stretches of Lothian Road.

At least turn it off in between big events.

The council have pledged to cut their carbon emissions by 10 per cent in 2010.

Ending waste like this would be a small start.

Ben Miller, Yeaman Place, Edinburgh

Time to reveal how tram sums add up

IT'S time we were told how much the tram scheme is going to cost, how it is to be paid for and by whom.

Despite numerous warnings from the SNP that the sums did not add up, most notably from Kenny MacAskill in the Scottish Parliament in March 2006, and from the Scottish Government in June 2007, the other parties' MSPs and councillors railroaded the tram scheme through, yet some have the cheek to complain about alleged council cuts of vital services.

Calum Stewart, Montague Street, Edinburgh

Cut our losses now on doomed project

THERE is no point in wasting more time and money on an inquiry into this trams fiasco.

The most cost effective way of calling a halt to this ill-conceived project should be determined by Audit Scotland and, of course, made public as a matter of urgency.

Staff involved in this project should immediately be made redundant at the very minimum government rate.

Councillors and MSPs who voted for this trams project should be named and then let the ballot box deal with them.

To use a very overused phrase, lessons will be learned.

MSPs and councillors need to learn that projects of this magnitude require public support by way of referendum, and, perhaps to use an old adage, don't start what you can't finish.

M White, Stanley Road, Edinburgh

Trident cost could scupper spending

PFI is one reason why the Scottish and UK economies are in difficulty. The cost of the PFI-built Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is a clear example.

Add to that the cost of Trident and illegal wars which an independent Scotland with full power would never have embarked on.

The news announced by the SNP government on its renewable energy project is potentially very exciting, but this should have been started ages ago.

If resources continue to be frittered on Trident, however, Scotland won't get the full benefits, and neither will the UK.

Andrew JT Kerr, Castlegate, Jedburgh

Wave energy deal must be applauded

THE signing of ten project agreements to generate as much as 1.2 gigawatts of wave and tidal energy from the seas off Scotland's north coast is to be applauded.

The natural rich resources of Scotland's water will indeed be a major contributor to our delivery of a low-carbon economy and will potentially generate enough electricity to supply 750,000 homes by 2020.

However, the challenges faced cannot be underestimated.

Installing up to 1,000 machines in the waters of the north of Scotland and transmitting the electricity generated to towns and cities will not only require great technical expertise, but also will require billions of pounds of investment.

The challenges are considerable, but the opportunities are immense, developing world-leading technologies to generate clean, green electricity, delivering an energy and jobs bonanza for Scotland.

Alan Simpson, energy and climate change team, HBJ Gateley Wareing, Exchange Tower, Canning Street, Edinburgh

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