Lighting the Way: How the Streets of Philadelphia Became a Blueprint for Safety and Job Creation

The PSIP was intentionally designed to prioritize installations in underserved neighborhoods. Using a data-driven approach that incorporated crime data, traffic crash data, and social equity indicators, the project ensures lighting upgrades provide the greatest benefits where they are most needed. Early research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab has already linked the new lighting to reductions in nighttime crime, underscoring the public safety impact of energy efficiency.

While this project reflects Philadelphia’s distinct needs, the underlying model—public-private collaboration, data-driven prioritization, and integration of smart, energy-efficient technologies—is highly scalable. Cities nationwide can replicate this approach to meet their own safety, resiliency, and sustainability objectives.

The Philadelphia Streetlight Improvement Project

At its core, the project is replacing 130,000 outdated HPS fixtures with modern, energy-efficient LED fixtures equipped with remote monitoring and smart controls. These advanced upgrades deliver immediate financial savings, dramatically reduce energy consumption, and enhance nighttime visibility across every neighborhood. With dimmable, Dark Sky compliant fixtures and real-time remote sensing capabilities, the system gives city managers the ability to optimize energy use, tailor lighting output to community needs, and quickly respond to outages —creating a safer, more resilient, and sustainable urban environment.

As the energy solutions partner leading design, engineering, and implementation, Ameresco worked hand-in-hand with Philadelphia officials to ensure the project met technical, environmental, and community goals. Ameresco coordinated with local community organizations, surveyed residents across 15 trial sites, and incorporated feedback into the citywide design. The project also created meaningful workforce opportunities: residents were hired to support audits, assembly, installation, and maintenance, while more than 80% of contracts went to minority-, women-, and local business enterprises.

Philadelphia has also set ambitious energy and resiliency targets. By 2030, the city aims to cut municipal energy use by 20% and reduce carbon emissions by at least 50%. Outdated streetlighting, which is often responsible for a sizable share of municipal energy consumption in major cities across the country, stood as a barrier to those goals. Ameresco’s experience with large-scale efficiency projects ensured PSIP was a comprehensive solution aligned with Philadelphia’s long-term sustainability and equity priorities.

Change Across the City

As of August 2025, more than 100,000 LED streetlights have been installed, marking 78% completion toward the 130,000-fixture goal. Already, the city is realizing measurable benefits:

• Cost savings: The new lights will reduce electricity use by more than 50%, cutting municipal energy bills and maintenance costs. Substantial energy efficiency rebates further strengthen the project’s financial case, enabling it to “pay for itself” over a 20-year financing period.
• Resource efficiency: By consuming half the energy of older fixtures, the new LEDs deliver dramatic efficiency improvements and extend the life of the city’s infrastructure.
• Resiliency: Remote monitoring and controls provide instant awareness of outages and system performance, allowing for faster repairs and more resilient city operations.
• Public safety: Improved lighting conditions enhance visibility for pedestrians and motorists while acting as a deterrent to crime.
• Sustainability: PSIP is expected to reduce municipal carbon emissions by nearly 9%—a significant step toward Philadelphia’s broader 2030 climate goals.

Broadening the Impact; Beyond Philly

Philadelphia’s streetlighting transformation demonstrates that energy efficiency is a catalyst for urban progress. By modernizing infrastructure and adopting smart technologies, cities like Philadelphia can achieve substantial cost savings, lower carbon emissions, and build greater resilience against outages and other challenges. Most importantly, these improvements directly enhance the daily lives of residents—making neighborhoods safer, more vibrant, and better equipped for the future.

PSIP demonstrates that large-scale efficiency initiatives can serve as multipurpose tools: advancing decarbonization, supporting public safety, driving workforce development, and laying the groundwork for smart-city technologies like IoT sensors and data collection. Ameresco is already working on similar projects across the country.

As municipalities across the U.S. grapple with aging infrastructure, rising energy costs, and growing climate commitments, Philadelphia’s approach offers a scalable model that is lighting the way to a brighter future. By leveraging public-private partnerships and integrating efficiency into core infrastructure, cities can make small changes add up to a significant impact. Let’s work together to ensure that the other 49% of our public lighting is updated so every community can enjoy safer, more sustainable streets.