City officials say the lights are 33 percent more efficient than the traditional street lights.
The replacements will be installed along more than 200 residential streets in neighborhoods throughout Chicago.
The switch to the new lights is a piece of a major effort to make city buildings and city operations more energy efficient.
Earlier this year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in a program he calls Retrofit Chicago that as much $225 million would be spent to make the buildings more energy efficient and that it would result in a savings of $20 million a year in energy costs.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
