BANGOR – Nyle’s Special Products LLC, a division of Nyle International Corp. of Brewer, has developed a heat pump that works in cold climates – the first and only heat pump that maintains high efficiency down to zero degrees Fahrenheit and below.

“It extracts heat from the outside air,” Nyle President Don Lewis said Monday. “There is heat in outside air no matter how cold it gets. The cold-climate heat pump is designed to be used in cold climates, and it’s an inexpensive way to provide heat. It’s really a breakthrough product.”

Heat pumps have been around for decades and are environmentally safe products that are efficient alternatives to using fossil fuels.

The drawback with traditional heat pumps is that they need a backup heat source during cold weather, which reduces the product’s efficiency. The newly designed heat pump from Nyle eliminates this need thanks to a two-cylinder compressor and booster compressor that kicks in at 35 degrees Fahrenheit and doubles the unit’s capacity.

The design also includes a heat exchanger, or economizer, that reclaims waste heat and makes the unit run more efficiently.

Its proven efficiency has earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star seal for the cold-climate heat pump.

Nyle did extensive testing on the new product two years ago and began marketing it last year. So far, the company has sold 250 units, including 12 in Bangor and 12 in Portland. It also is being sold on the West Coast, where electricity is cheaper, Lewis said.

The estimated heating-cost saving, compared to oil and other fossil fuels, is around 40 percent, with the cost of electricity as the biggest factor.

The pumps are comparable in operational costs to geothermal heating systems, but installation costs are less.

EnerKon of Freeport is marketing the product regionally. For information about the cold-climate heat pump, visit EnerKon’s Web site at www.enerkoncorp.com.