WETT Award of Excellence
John Gulland, WETT 2023 Award of Excellence Recipient
The WETT Award of Excellence recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing the objectives of WETT Inc.
Our 2023 recipient is John Gulland.
John Gulland's involvement with wood burning began in 1974 when he moved to a rural area and built a wood stove for his own home. During the late seventies he worked for a major manufacturer of wood furnaces, responsible for product development, quality control and customer service. He became a consultant in the field in 1981 and served for one year as residential wood energy policy advisor to Energy, Mines and Resources Canada.
While continuing to offer consulting services, he established a highly successful wood stove and fireplace retail store in 1985, which he sold to its manager in 1992. Working under contract to the Canadian Wood Energy Institute (CWEI), he served as principal researcher, writer and project leader in the development of the reference materials and course documents for the acclaimed Wood Energy Technical Training program (WETT).
John has delivered dozens of training seminars and workshops for wood-heat professionals all over North America. He is acknowledged to be one of North America’s foremost experts on chimney installation design and function, especially in tightly constructed houses. He has also led teams of researchers conducting two major combustion venting research projects for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
From 1990 to 1994, his company provided association management and technical services to Wood Energy Technology Transfer Inc. (WETT Inc.), the national registrar for the WETT program, and to the Association of Registered Wood Energy Technicians of Ontario (ARWETO), its affiliate in Ontario.
In the mid-1990s, he developed a new manual and workshop called Reliable Chimney Venting, which was adopted and published by the U.S. HEARTH Education Foundation. His book, The Hearth in the House as a System is now online. John is deeply involved in initiatives to reduce indoor and outdoor smoke emissions from wood-burning equipment.
WETT is pleased to award John Gulland with our 2023 Award of Excellence.
John accepted his award in person during our AGM on Friday, June 9, 2023.