An efficacious energy model based on Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) for cooperative communication is proposed in this paper. The influence of the rate at which data are transmitted, distance, severity of fading, and quantity of participating nodes on the energy expended for communication by the proposed model is investigated through simulations. The influence of the rate at which data are transmitted and the quantity of participating nodes on the energy expended in circuitry is also studied. Through the simulations, it is apparent that the energy consumed by the circuit dominates the energy consumed for transmission for all of the transmission data rates, path loss exponents, bit error rates, and transmission distances considered.