XML File Formats¶
Various GCAM tool (gt) sub-commands take input from XML files that are distinct from those read by the GCAM model itself. These include:
- project.xml describes all the workflow steps required to run a
pygcam
project.- scenarios.xml file provides instructions for modifying GCAM configuration files to generate desired scenarios. It can be used as an alternative to defining a custom Python module, though the latter provides greater customizability.
- queries.xml file describes XML queries to run against the XML database generated by GCAM, including aggregation “rewrites” that are added on-the-fly.
- rewriteSets.xml file describes named sets of “rewrite” statements that can be referenced by queries in queries.xml.
- landProtection.xml file describes which types of unmanaged land should “protected”, (i.e., removed from economic consideration in the model), and at what percentages in each region.
- parameters.xml defines Monte Carlo parameters and distributions.
- results.xml defines Monte Carlo results to be saved in the SQL database.
- resPolicy.xml supports the definition of Renewable Energy Standard (RES) policies.
Most of these files allow a custom meta-language I call Conditional XML, which allows portions of the XML file to be selected based on the values of configuration variables.