  We consider the energy release associated with first-order transition by
Gibbs construction and present such energy release as an accumulation of a
series of tiny binding energy differences between over-compressed states and
stable ones. Universal formulae for the energy release from one homogeneous
phase to the other is given. We find the energy release per converted particle
varies with number density. As an example, the deconfinement phase transition
at supranuclear densities is discussed in detail. The mean energy release per
converted baryon is of order 0.1MeV in RMF theory and MIT bag descriptions for
hadronic matter and strange quark matter for a wider parameter region.
