A wide variety of factors influence air pollution emissions in Canada. These include Canada's physical geography, demographic changes in its population and economic growth. Canada has a highly variable climate. This contributes to relatively higher energy use for space heating and cooling of buildings compared to other industrialized countries. Canada is large and sparsely populated, which leads to longer travel times and higher demand for transportation than in smaller and/or more densely populated countries. In addition, Canada experienced faster than average population and economic growth relative to other developed countries between 2000 and 2012. Other important factors influencing air pollution include the adoption of more efficient practices or equipment by consumers and industry. Examples include how people commute to work, where businesses decide to locate their manufacturing facilities and whether they choose to buy or manufacture more energy-efficient products