The company was singled out for praise by Tony Blair, the prime minister, in a speech on climate change in September as an example of a British firm developing world-beating technology. Last year it won the inaugural Low Carbon Innovation Award, in a scheme jointly run by The Sunday Telegraph and Carbon Trust, a government-backed body set up to help the UK become a low-carbon economy.

Ceres's device, known as a fuel cell, produces electricity and usable heat when gas is passed over one side of a special membrane and air is passed over the other. A number of utility companies are said to be interested in installing the devices for their customers, while BOC, the industrial gases giant, is running a trial to use the technology with bottled gases in locations where mains supplies are unavailable.

The fuel cells produce substantial energy savings for users and will reduce CO2 emissions.

The problem with previous versions of fuel cells is that they have worked only with hydrogen and have required expensive platinum components. The advantage of the Ceres cell is that it is made largely from stainless steel and ceramics using fairly standard low-cost manufacturing techniques.