From the law of conversation of energy, the release energy from the initiation to the Chapman-Jouguet point during the detonation of an energetic compound has been deduced as a function of initial density, detonation velocity, and detonation pressure. For C-H-N-O energetic compounds the relative release energy per unit volume (I(v)) approaches the relative specific wall kinetic energy (E(cyl)/G(HMX)) at 19 mm wall displacement from the cylinder test with HMX as reference. A good linear relationship between I(v) and E(cyl)/E(HMX) has been regressed, implying that E(cyl)/E(HMX) is also a function of initial density, detonation velocity, and detonation pressure. It has been concluded that I(v) can reflect the driving force of detonation products of energetic compounds and is appropriate to be used for the evaluation of energy characteristics. The assessment of the energy for a series of synthesized and theoretically designed high-energy compounds reveals that the future of C-H-N-O energetic compounds is promising after CL-20 and ONC.