  Recent developments in statistical mechanics have allowed the estimation of
equilibrium free energies from the statistics of work measurements during
processes that drive the system out of equilibrium. Here a different class of
processes is considered, wherein the system is prepared and released from a
nonequilibrium state, and no external work is involved during its observation.
For such ``clamp-and-release'' processes, a simple strategy for the estimation
of equilibrium free energies is offered. The method is illustrated with
numerical simulations, and analyzed in the context of tethered single-molecule
experiments.
