  The energy density of the vacuum, Lambda, is at least 60 orders of magnitude
smaller than several known contributions to it. Approaches to this problem are
tightly constrained by data ranging from elementary observations to precision
experiments. Absent overwhelming evidence to the contrary, dark energy can only
be interpreted as vacuum energy, so the venerable assumption that Lambda=0
conflicts with observation. The possibility remains that Lambda is
fundamentally variable, though constant over large spacetime regions. This can
explain the observed value, but only in a theory satisfying a number of
restrictive kinematic and dynamical conditions. String theory offers a concrete
realization through its landscape of metastable vacua.
