1 World Solar

No, that's a popular misconception. In fact, based on the area of roof taken up, ATON flat plate collectors are up to 8% more efficient than the market leading heat pipe evacuated tubes and well over 10% more efficient than many Chinese evacuated tubes. This is because evacuated tubes have a small proportion of absorber area, compared to gross area. The best way to compare performance is therefore to calculate the useful energy produced by means of an energy model such as the Standard Assessment Procedure, SAP.

For more info on this topic see the flat plate vs evacuated tube pdf