Techniques for path selection in a network include a first node in a mesh network receiving, from a second node in the mesh network, a first battery life metric for a path through the mesh network, determining a value representing a remaining battery life of the first node, calculating a second battery life metric based on at least one of the first battery life metric for the path or the value representing the remaining battery life for the first node, and transmitting, to a third node in the mesh network, the second battery life metric.