Badger Tag & Label’s maintenance team, along with a local electrician, recently replaced all the fluorescent bulbs with LED bulbs in its 30,000 square foot facility. The company is capitalizing on the trend of finding ways to reduce its carbon footprint, generating cost savings and being better stewards of the environment.  

“We replaced a total of 407 fluorescent bulbs with LED bulbs,” says Kevin Kalkofen, vice president at Badger. “The annual savings in electricity alone will be over $10,000. Add the $1,500 in maintenance savings and that’s impressive for one facility. We had hoped to complete the replacement sooner, but LED technology has really come down in cost and there are more options now, so we benefited by waiting a bit.”

While the benefits of LED lighting are well known, the Badger had several reasons for the installation. While T8/T12 fluorescent bulbs are warranted for three years, they commonly fail at about 2.5 years. In contrast, LED bulbs come with a five year warranty and are expected to last 80,000 hours.

LED bulbs also emit light in a 110 degree field vs. the 360 degrees of fluorescent–so 70% instead of only 30% of the light hits the intended target. Devoid of mercury, LED bulbs don’t require special handling for disposal and don’t contribute to toxic waste in landfills, either. Instead of using heat to generate light as fluorescent does, LED uses energy to produce light, so Badger will save on air conditioning costs as well.

“Our employees on the pressroom floor are already commenting that there seems to be consistent, uniform light levels throughout the building,” adds Kalkofen. “And since LED replacement bulbs better represent sunlight, the tags and labels we print are viewed in optimum light level for color accuracy.”

Badger Tag & Label Corporation produces tags and labels for customers throughout the nation. Based in Random Lake, WI, the company is a third-generation, family owned, privately held business that began in 1935.