Abstract: Untethered nodes in mobile ad hoc networks strongly depend on the efficient use of their batteries. A new metric is proposed, the power cost function (PCF), which denotes the value of the remaining battery capacity and using condition of an active node. A distributed algorithm called M-REMiT(an algorithm based on mobility prediction and probability for refining energy-efficient multicast tree) is proposed for building an energy-efficient multicast tree in mobile ad hoc networks. The M-REMiT takes into account the energy-efficiency, not only reducing the total energy consumption (TEC) for multicasting in a source-based tree but also extending lifetime of each node and system lifetime (SL) in multicast tree. The simulations show that it offers better performance results than the previous proposals for energy-efficient multicasting for moving nodes.