Baoding, Hebei province, which continues to linger at the bottom of the national air quality rankings, needs to put more effort into exploring solar energy to reduce coal consumption and motivate economic growth, according to an environmental official in the city.

"To develop solar energy and other greener energies is away to cut coal consumption, away to improve air quality," said Wang Jinfu, deputy head of the city's environmental protection bureau.

In the last 10 days of December, the city had only one day with air quality meeting national safety standards. The other nine days had severe pollution, according to the China National Environment Monitoring Center.