An Experimental Assessment of the Energy Performance of Novel Concrete Walls Embedded with Mini Solar Collectors

Experimental measurements from a twelve-month trial are used to assess the energy performance of a solar-heated stratified concrete wall panel. The panel comprises an interior layer of high thermal mass concrete and an exterior layer of insulating concrete that is embedded with a solar thermal collector covering 10% of the panel's face. Results indicate that the collector improves the energy performance of stratified concrete panels by more than 15%.