NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- It was the exhaust fumes from a diesel truck that inspired Dean Tsoupeis. He was stopped at a red light, directly behind a big diesel truck. As noxious exhaust fumes wafted through the vents of his broken air conditioner, he thought, "There's got to be a better way than this."
Today Tsoupeis, 40, a graduate of Northeast High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., credits that unpleasant experience, along with his admiration for the cooking-oil fueled Veggie Van, with providing the inspiration to grow algae as a way to help liberate the world from its dependence on fossil fuel and head off a worldwide food shortage.
