Good morning from Santa Barbara where the sun is rising over blue skies and a cobalt Pacific ocean. We're going to be live all day from the Wall Street Journal's first-ever ECOnomics conference which brings together CEO's, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to discuss how to make money by going 'green': reducing carbon emissions, recycling and figuring out ways to create sustainable energy.
General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt was last night's keynote speaker. He made some bold and dramatic statements to the group of 300. Among them:
"I'm not an environmentalist. I'm a capitalist and a businessman but I believe i can drive earnings and make money by working to create clean energy, water and environmental solutions...."
"We decided on our own to see if we could follow the Kyoto Protocol (emission reduction efforts)...I *thought* we'd lose money doing it, but we *made* money."
"Don't put your heads in the sand and be stupid about this. You better start (becoming more green) today."
"Our lighting business is our worst business. The only thing that makes it interesting today is new energy standards."
The crowd interrupted several times with big applause. He was a hit.
So gang, this morning at 11am ET, 8am Pacific, my first guest will be a guy you'd *think* wouldn't want to be at a conference like this one. Red Cavaney, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute will be FIRST on FOX Business. With oil at 110$ a barrel, he knows he has some 'splainin' to do but he's a good sport and we're so happy he'll join us.
Also today, Lee Scott, CEO of WalMart, Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical, James Rogers of Duke Energy, and the Green Poster Child, actor Ed Begley Jr. All will be with me live on FOX Business.
So keep us on all day to hear some pretty fascinating talk about the future of our world and how businesses want to fit it.
