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ROCKFORD — In 2005, Bob Moreland was looking for a good hangar to house his prize plane, a 1956 Cessna 180.
That led he and his son, Zachary Moreland, a senior architect at Shigeru Ban Architects America, to develop what he describes as “the perfect hangar.” Moreland’s solar-heated hangars maintain a minimum of 50 degrees with a negligible use of fossil fuel. The third and most recent hangar his company built, which features more solar collectors than the previous two, achieves a minimum of 55 degrees on the coldest days without the need for a boiler system.
Moreland found he wasn’t the only one in the market for energy-efficient aircraft storage. His goal for one private hangar at Chicago Rockford International Airport grew into a business, which now has 30 individual units in three buildings totaling nearly 40,000 square feet.
“It just took off,” said Moreland, CEO of Moreland Aviation Advisors. “It was never my intention to start this business, but now there’s a huge need for it.”
