Technological development in wireless communication enables the development of smart, tiny, low cost and low power sensor nodes to outperform for various applications in Wireless Sensor Networks. In the existing Tabu search algorithm, clusters are formed using initial solution algorithm to conserve energy. We propose a Cluster Based Energy Aware Routing (CEAR) algorithm to maximize energy conservation and lifetime of network with active and sleep nodes. The proposed algorithm, removes duplication of data through aggregation at the cluster heads with active and sleep modes. A comparative study of CEAR algorithm with Tabu search algorithm is obtained. Comparative study shows improvement in the Lifetime and energy conservation by 17 and 22 % respectively over the existing algorithm