Catherine Clifford

New York

Senior Science and Economics Correspondent at Cipher News

Senior science and economics correspondent, @CipherNews. Fellow @Climatebase. Alumna @Columbia Energy Journalism Initiative. Also, lots of yoga.

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Articles

After years of historic growth, industrial cleantech investments falter

3 weeks ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

Investments into low-carbon technologies in the industrial sector have grown enormously over the last four years, thanks largely to federal subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act and related new laws — but they’re starting to fall as Washington rolls back those same policies. Such investments include a sundry mix of nascent technologies, like clean hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel and carbon management, aimed at cleaning up a range of industrial processes.
New horizons for nuclear power on the banks of Lake Michigan

1 month ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

Eight years ago, the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan was slated for closure. But today, it’s humming with activity. In an industry that has been stagnant for years, Palisades is getting a second act. Instead of systematically taking it apart as originally planned, hundreds of workers are bringing the plant back to life. It’s a sign of new investment and interest taking hold in the nuclear industry.
Trump’s former FERC chair: Compromise key to AI energy race

1 month ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

NEW YORK — Using solar energy plus battery storage, with natural gas as backup, is the only “plausible path forward” to meet surging energy demand from artificial intelligence data centers in the near-term, said Neil Chatterjee, a former top energy regulator during the first Trump administration. “If we’re genuinely in an AI race — and we need to win the AI race against the Chinese Communist Party — we need the power right now.
Why tariffs pose a bigger risk to renewable energy than fossil fuels

1 month ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump will likely hit the supply chains for wind and solar much harder than supply chains for fossil fuels. Energy research company Rystad Energy shows this in the second edition of its “Trump and Energy” report, published in April, which analyzed supply chains for various fossil fuel and renewable sources of energy in the United States.
The U.S. imports virtually all its uranium for nuclear power

2 months ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

The United States imports 99% of the uranium concentrate it needs to make fuel for its nuclear reactors — but that could be changing. The country’s 54 nuclear power plants produce about a fifth of all U.S. electricity. Most of the uranium they use is imported from Canada, Kazakhstan, Australia, Russia and Uzbekistan. But domestic uranium production has recently grown due to technological developments that bring U.S. mining costs down.
With Trump’s support, nuclear energy eyes a revival

2 months ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

“America’s nuclear energy renaissance starts now.”So said Chris Wright, secretary of the United States Energy Department, in late March. He was announcing his agency had relaunched a Biden-era program to award $900 million in support of new small modular reactors. Earlier that month, the Energy Department also announced it was disbursing an almost $57 million loan to restart a nuclear power plant in Michigan.
Geothermal is the rare renewable energy winning favor in Trump’s America

2 months ago | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

With roots from the oil industry and a clean profile, geothermal is emerging as the one renewable energy the Trump administration actually likes. Generated by tapping into the extreme heat at the center of the Earth, geothermal power is an energy unicorn: It’s renewable, produces virtually no greenhouse gas emissions and is always on.
Geoengineering quantified: Heat is deadlier than air pollution

Mar 24, 2025 | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

As the Earth’s temperature keeps rising, scientists and entrepreneurs around the world are exploring increasingly novel ways of tackling climate change — including lessening deadly levels of heat. One initiative garnering a lot of attention — and controversy — is solar geoengineering.
China on track to dominate nuclear energy

Feb 5, 2025 | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

Add one more clean-energy technology China is set to dominate: nuclear power. China leads, by far, in nuclear energy capacity under construction, as the above chart shows. And within five years, it is forecasted to overtake the United States and Europe to be “the number one nuclear power in the world,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said alongside the recent release of a new report on the technology.
National pride at a wilderness park and a research lab

Jan 17, 2025 | ciphernews.com | Catherine Clifford

I went camping last fall in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a 150-mile-long collection of lakes and streams along Minnesota’s border with Canada. At the campsite where my partner and I stayed, one of 2,000 designated campsites in this rugged, pristine landscape, a sturdy, metal grill was installed over the firepit, with “U.S. Forest Service” engraved on the side.