Explicit description of the degree function in terms of quantum Lakshmibai-Seshadri paths

We give an explicit and computable description, in terms of the parabolic quantum Bruhat graph, of the degree function defined for quantum Lakshmibai-Seshadri paths, or equivalently, for "projected" (affine) level-zero Lakshmibai-Seshadri paths. This, in turn, gives an explicit and computable description of the global energy function on tensor products of Kirillov-Reshetikhin crystals of one-column type, and also of (classically restricted) one-dimensional sums.