The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and associated methods for generating energy by capturing and taking benefit of the energy generated by any quantity of air surfacing inside water. In exemplary embodiments, the apparatus comprises compressing a lower density gas in a liquid medium, allowing the gas to naturally rise to the surface of the liquid medium and then capturing the energy generated by the surfacing gas. An apparatus and method is disclosed to provide a low energy technique to compress air into water. In exemplary embodiments, air is introduced into water by simultaneously providing a low pressure area in the liquid medium and compressing the air into the low pressure area. By compressing the air into water in low pressure areas, the energy required to compress the air is greatly reduced. The amount of energy generated by the rising air is less than the amount of energy required to compress air underneath the water.