The good news about a recent report for the government about UK costs of complying with EU targets for renewables is that it should put no more than an extra 5% on our national energy bill. The bad news is that the government want to cut this cost by subsidising continental biomass consumption as a substitute for supporting our own renewable energy sources. The subsidised biomass will consist largely of wood burning in eastern Europe from forests that may not be replaced. Under the draft EU renewables directive that is set to become law in 2009, the UK has to increase the proportion of energy it derives from renewable sources from under 2% to 15% by 2020. In Brussels, British officials have campaigned to persuade the EU to allow unrestricted trading in "renewable energy certificates". These certificates are credited to units of renewable energy. This would allow the UK to count renewable energy produced in other EU states towards UK targets by buying the virtual (certificate) value of the renewable production. A report written for the government by the prestigious P