I was reading about water powered air compressor systems called trompes that were used for hundreds of years for furnaces, mines, air conditioning and ice production. Even compressed air cars were available at one point. Trompes can work great if you have a steep drop in elevation and an adequate water source. What may work best for most people though is wind driven compressed air.
windmill
Adobe Windmills
“I have recently been in correspondence with an Iranian researcher, Mostafa Aref haghi, who has chronicled a tradition in Iran of building adobe windmills. At first I thought that it was virtually impossible to build a windmill using adobe. But then as I studied the material that he sent I came to realize that yes, indeed, it is possible to build a windmill using adobe!