Sensor networks are handicapped by limited resources in the form of energy, processing, and memory. This paper proposes a new multi-hop energy efficient protocol, namely a routing algorithm using the ring-zone (RARZ) model. The protocol is lightweight, takes routing decisions based on the remaining energy of nodes, and performs location-based routing without the need for the nodes to know their respective positions. The protocol partitions the network into concentric rings around the base station. Each node assigns itself to a particular ring, known by a ringID. Multi-hop routing is performed and nodes within inner rings carry data for the outer rings towards the base station. Simulation results show that RARZ outperforms the address-light integrated MAC routing protocol (AIMRP), ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) and Flooding in terms of end-to-end delay, average hop count, and energy consumption.