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ie8 fix

isobutanol

Mazda borrows a page from Porsche's playbook

LAS VEGAS--If I told you that a performance car manufacturer has developed a lightweight version of a popular roadster with a tent-style fabric roof, dubbed "Spyder," you might assume that I'm months late with my Porsche news.

However, I'm talking about Mazda, not Porsche, and the car in question isn't the Boxster Spyder, but the Mazda MX-5 Spyder.

The MX-5 Spyder starts with the MX-5 Miata and ditches the retractable roof in favor of a single-panel grenadine-red soft top made by Haartz. Additional weight savings come from the swapping of the lead acid battery for … Read more

Advanced biofuels maker Gevo files to go public

Gevo is out to prove that the sleeper success story in the biofuels business is isobutanol.

The Denver-based company on Thursday filed an S-1 document stating its plans to raise $150 million by going public on the stock market. On Wednesday, algae biofuel company PetroAlgae also filed for an initial public offering.

Gevo was started in 2005 to commercialize technology from California Institute of Technology and raised an initial investment from Khosla Ventures, followed by two subsequent rounds.

It is one of many so-called second-generation biofuels companies seeking to make fuels from biomass. Rather than ethanol, though, Gevo's process … Read more