although it s unlikely to help alex Salmond in his quest for 100 per cent renewable energy for Scotland, new scientific research confirms the existence of dark energy  abroad in the universe.  Two new surveys, examining more than 200,000 galaxies, supports the theory that the universe is in fact made up of 74% of dark energy. The rest of the universe consists of only 4% of normal matter   stars, planets, galaxies, us   and 22% dark matter.  What dark energy is, of course, is not certain, but it is believed to be the force that is behind the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. and according to one theory it might prove that the universe is flat too.