Abstract: A solar energy collector includes a housing having a back reflective wall and a transparent forward wall. The chamber between the walls is sealed against air-interchange with the surrounding air. A number of parallel blackened pipes are interconnected to define a fluid path from an inlet to an outlet, and the pipes are spaced so that there exists a plurality of unhindered light paths through the area of pipes from the transparent wall to the reflective surface, so that a substantial portion of any light passing along the unhindered paths and reflecting from the reflective surface will strike the exteriors of the pipes.