Methods and systems for emergency lighting are disclosed. Embodiments of the invention provide a solid-state lighting system, light fixture or a collection of light fixtures, with a control input that is used to cause the system to dim to a specific level during an outage in order to conserve power in a building where power is backed up by an emergency inverter or a back-up generator. With embodiments of the invention, there is no need to run a separate power feed, as might otherwise be required for keeping distributed batteries charged or for running specified emergency-only fixtures from back-up power. In some embodiments the solid-state lighting system includes an occupancy sensor wherein the specified light output level is determined at least in part based on the occupancy of a room. In some embodiments, the system can be selectively configured for the specified output level.