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by jakub_h 3588 days ago
Just compare the price of a solar panel with the price of coal you'd have to pay for in China. That's the uppermost possible limit of what you could expect for CO₂ emissions if you didn't have to pay for anything else. Just conveniently assume all your workers and other raw materials are free. ;) You can probably buy two tonnes of coal in China for the price of a ~250W solar panel. That gives you about 4000 kWh of electricity. At a 15% capacity factor in China, the same panel can generate at least 6500 kWh in 25 years, even including quite substantial degradation. So if used to offset electricity generation within China, it's neutral after 15 years.

In reality, it's most likely much sooner because you don't need 4000 kWh of coal electricity to manufacture a 250W panel; you have to pay your workers and raw material suppliers instead.