One answer is to use the energy to compress air, which can be squirrelled away in hermetically sealed underground caverns.

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In jet aircraft, purifying cabin air would save on fuel needed to compress fresh air bled from the engine to ventilate the cabin.

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The centrifugal force required to compress the air is too great for small wind turbines to cope with, so much larger turbines will have to be installed for the project to realize its goals.

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Unlike the more familiar turbojet, which uses a turbine-powered fan to compress the incoming air before it is mixed with fuel, a ramjet compresses air by forcing it down an ever-narrowing funnel.

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The Wankel engine in the Mazda RX-8 houses a rapidly spinning cam that is shaped to compress and combust fuel and air against the inside of an oval chamber.

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"There's no air in space to compress to ring against your ear, " she told CNN in an interview at the TED conference in Long Beach, California, in March.

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