Heat pumps took center stage in LG Air Conditioning Technology’s booth at the 2025 AHR Expo.
Last December, LG and the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), announced the opening of its state-of-the-art, real-world-simulated lab to conduct comprehensive studies on cold-climate heat pump HVAC solutions. LG Pro Cast Podcast hosts Terry Frisenda, national business development manager, and Phillip Kriegbaum, senior business development manager, discussed this research during a live broadcast at the 2025 AHR Expo. The panel discussion featured Steve Scarbrough, senior vice president and general manager of LG Air Conditioning Technologies, and two researchers for the Consortium for Advanced Heat Pump Research: Sunwoo Kim, professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Getu Hailu, associate professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“One of the most complicated issues we have in the U.S. is satisfying all climate regions,” Scarbrough said. “We’ve been very fortunate to partner with my friends at the University of Alaska Anchorage to do testing in some of the more extreme, low ambient climates to provide, what I call, proof of concept and expand the range of low ambient heating… The more brilliant minds we have working on this technology, the faster we can bring it to market.”
The Consortium for Advanced Heat Pump Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks features a fully operational house of less than 1,000 square feet, which uses two LG heat pumps, an LG furnace, and an LG heat pump water heater to test various heating systems in extremely cold climate conditions.
A recent test proved LG’s cold climate heat pumps outperformed the traditional gas furnace, even providing heat at -40˚ F, Kim noted.
Kriegbaum noted that LG intends to disrupt the market and bring a total solution.
“We want to find the best solution we can to meet today's and tomorrow’s needs,” Scarbrough added.
