The Energy Impact of Domain Model Design in Classical Planning

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different design choices in domain models influence the energy consumption of classical planning algorithms, highlighting the importance of energy-aware design in AI planning.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic framework for analyzing the energy impact of domain model features in classical planning, supported by empirical results across multiple domains and planners.

Findings

Domain modifications significantly affect energy consumption.

Energy use does not always correlate with runtime.

Systematic analysis reveals energy-efficient domain design strategies.

Abstract

AI research has traditionally prioritised algorithmic performance, such as optimising accuracy in machine learning or runtime in automated planning. The emerging paradigm of Green AI challenges this by recognising energy consumption as a critical performance dimension. Despite the high computational demands of automated planning, its energy efficiency has received little attention. This gap is particularly salient given the modular planning structure, in which domain models are specified independently of algorithms. On the other hand, this separation also enables systematic analysis of energy usage through domain model design. We empirically investigate how domain model characteristics affect the energy consumption of classical planners. We introduce a domain model configuration framework that enables controlled variation of features, such as element ordering, action arity, and dead-end states. Using five benchmark domains and five state-of-the-art planners, we analyse energy and runtime impacts across 32 domain variants per benchmark. Results demonstrate that domain-level modifications produce measurable energy differences across planners, with energy consumption not always correlating with runtime.