Shock wave generated by electric spark discharge was studied experimentally and the shock wave energy was evaluated in this paper. A pressure measurement system was established to study the pressure field of the electric spark discharge process. A series of electric spark discharge experiments were carried out and the energy of the electric spark used in present study was in the range of 10 J, 100 J, and 1000 J, respectively. The shock wave energy released from the electric spark discharge process was calculated by using the overpressure values at different measurement points near the electric spark discharge center. The good consistency of shock wave energies calculated by pressure histories at different measuring points in the same electric spark discharge experiment illustrates the applicability of the weak shock wave theory in calculating the energy of shock wave induced by electric spark discharge process. The result showed that shock wave formed at the initial stage of electric spark discharge process, and the shock wave energy is only a little part of electric spark energy. From the analysis of the shock wave energy and electric spark energy, a good linear relationship between shock wave energy and electric spark energy was established, which make it possible to calculate shock wave energy by measuring characteristic parameters of electric spark discharge process instead of shock wave. So, the initiation energy of direct initiation of detonation can be determined easily by measuring the parameters of electric spark discharge process.