General Wesley Clark, Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, will be the featured speaker at an upcoming Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA)luncheon and dinner on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
The Ottawa Luncheon, Energy Security: The Future of North American Energy, will be held Tuesday 11:45 am – 1:30 pm at the Fairmont Château Laurier. The Toronto Dinner, A fire-side chat with General Wesley Clark , will be moderated by Financial Post Editor at Large, Diane Francis at 6 pm at The National Club.
General Clark rose to the rank of four-star general after nearly 40 years of service in the U.S. Army. He has lead Growth Energy since February 2009, working to increase American energy independence by expanding the use of environmentally-friendly ethanol.
For more information on the September 29 events, click here.
“This is our first new plant relationship since our acquisition of C&N and is a real demonstration of the confidence placed in Mansfield and C&N as a thriving, independent marketing partner,” said Douglas Haugh, EVP of Mansfield Oil. “Our strengths are logistics, marketing, and the supply chain automation technology that refiners are increasingly requiring of their ethanol suppliers. Working transparently with great producers like Heron Lake, we can improve netbacks for plants. Meanwhile, we reduce costs for customers by slimming transportation and administrative costs across the supply chain.” 
The partnership will allow the Heron Lake facility to manage and forecast their costs and margins as well as giving them access to C&N’s nationwide market that consists of refiners and blenders.
Receiving a lot of attention is the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car. This futuristic vehicle is a diesel hybrid plug-in, but costs a fortune to make. The powertrain provides acceleration to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.8 seconds, and its average fuel consumption is near 62.6 miles per gallon, BMW reported. “This is a very far look into the future,” [Dirk Arnold, BMW product communications manager] said. “Maybe this would be possible for production with some completely new diesel engine or other new technology, but for the next five years the advantage of combining diesel and electric systems is relatively low compared to the tremendous cost.”
Researchers at University of Georgia will be turning forest and agricultural waste into biodiesel.
“America’s energy future rests squarely in its high school classrooms today,” said Mike Jerke, chairman of the RFF and General Manager of Quad County Corn Processors in Galva, Iowa. “It is these future scientists, engineers and dreamers that will supply both the manpower as well as the brain power necessary to break our addiction to fossil fuels. We are proud to be partnering with the National FFA to make these students aware of the vast opportunities offered by a robust renewable fuels industry.”
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A man called “one of the most effective renewable energy advocates in Texas” is being honored with an award that has a focus this year on the environment.
Last week, I told you how petroleum company Valero Energy Corp. could be looking at getting into the biodiesel business (see 
Canadian company Enerkem has broken ground on a new energy research facility.
“It makes it more convenient for state employees to get higher ethanol blends, and it should increase our use of those higher ethanol blends to an estimated 250,000 gallons per year,” said Governor Mike Rounds. “It also will benefit South Dakota’s ethanol producers and the farmers who grow the corn that’s used to make ethanol.”