This paper experimentally examines the performance of solar air heater (SAH) having a newly designed tubular absorber comprising adjacent parallel tubes called tubular SAH (T_SAH) via energy, exergy, and enviroeconomic standpoints. A comparative performance assessment between T_SAH and flat plate solar air heater (F_SAH) at diverse air mass flow rates (MFRs) of 0.075, 0.05, and 0.025 kg/s is performed. Experiments for both heaters are tested using two flow pass arrangements of single-pass (SP) and double-pass (DP). The results reveal that maximum enhancement in thermal and exergy efficiencies of 133 % and 330 %, respectively is obtained when using SP T_SAH against SP F_SAH at air MFR of 0.025 kg/s. It is found that when there is an increase in air MFR, there is a significant increment in thermal efficiency, whereas there is a reduction in exergy efficiency. Despite the performance in the case of T_SAH is more effective than F_SAH, the enhancement in the case of DP F_SAH due to using DP flow configuration is greater than that of DP T_SAH. Finally, the results indicate that the carbon credit earned regarding the amount CO₂ mitigated for SP F_SAH and SP T_SAH at MFR of 0.075 kg/s is estimated at 391.6 $/year and 561.9 $/year, respectively.