WPAC Report At home and abroad Update on WPAC’s recent activities promoting Canadian pellets By Gordon Murray A t the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), we ad-vocate on behalf of our membership. Here are some of our recent activities: WPAC SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN – WOOD PELLET HEATING Last fall, WPAC and the marketing team at Shaw Resources, Dan Coffey and Sue Hoyt, with financial support from Forestry Inno-vation Investment, co-ordinated a four-week social media cam-paign on wood pellet heating. The campaign ran from Oct. 8 to Nov. 5, using Facebook and Instagram. Both English and French advertisements targeted all of Canada except for the largest cities with natural gas grids. Campaign results included: • Main social media platform responses: Facebook • Total impressions: 465,941 • Website page views: 7,677 • Unique users: 4,111 • Increase in website traffic over previous four weeks: 1,000 per cent • Increase in website traffic over same four weeks in prior year: 2,000 per cent • Top English language provincial activity: Ontario – 29 per cent; Nova Scotia – 19 per cent; British Columbia – 13 per cent • Top French language provincial activity: Quebec – 90 per cent; New Brunswick – 9 per cent • Significant conversation on the pros and cons of wood pellets • Most popular page viewed: Job Smart • Positive comments: • Love wood pellet stove • Easy to use • Safer than wood stove • Circulates heat well and evenly • Saves money • Cheaper than alternatives WPAC members can request the full campaign report. During 2019, WPAC is planning to co-operate with the Que-bec Wood Export Bureau on a comprehensive Canadian wood pellet market study for our membership. We will involve mem-bers in designing the study. SAFETY SESSION DURING EUROPEAN PELLET COUNCIL GENERAL ASSEMBLY Representatives from WPAC, Mitsubishi, Showa Shell, and Canadian National Railway (CN) tour the Keihin Biomass Power Plant in Japan. Photo courtesy CN. ship with safety regulators. One of our recent goals has been to collaborate with other in-ternational wood pellet trade associations on the topic of safety. To that end, on Nov. 15, I, along with Scott Bax, senior vice-president of operations for Pinnacle Renewable Energy, led a safety session during the European Pellet Council’s general assembly in Hanover, Germany. The session featured presentations and videos on the Canadian wood pellet safety journey and a workshop and quiz on the topic of combustible dust mitigation. We used a combustible dust video produced by WorkSafeBC, which, due to popular de-mand, was subsequently translated into German by WorkSafeBC for distribution to a European audience. WPAC PRESENTATION TO HOUSE OF COMMONS ENVI COMMITTEE WPAC’s Safety Committee includes members from most Canadi-an wood pellet producers. Since 2014 we have made remarkable progress in making our industry safer and improving our relation-The House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development is a permanent committee, comprising nine members of parliament (Liberals, Conservatives and NDP), established by the standing orders of the House of Commons in Ot-tawa. The committee’s mandate is to examine, inquire and report on matters related to the environment and sustainable development. WINTER 2019 8 Canadian BIOMASS
Canadian Biomass Winter 2019: Page 8
