Abstract: A solar energy collector having lower and top plates in spaced-apart parallel relationship and being laterally joined to develop a chamber, fluid inlet means provided at the normally upper end of said chamber, fluid outlet means provided at the normally lower end of said chamber, said lower plate having high heat absorptivity, said upper plate having heat transmissivity for short wave energy, a multiplicity of insulators provided within said chamber developing a multiplicity of tortuous flow paths from one end of said collector to the other, and means interengaging the upper and lower plates and the intervening insulators along lines of demarcation coextensive with said collector for developing discrete flow channels.