Okay, I know it sounds weird, but hear me out:
We know space is expanding, sure. That's been established science for a while now. All three spatial dimensions at the same (increasing) rate.
So ... why should we assume that the 4th dimension -- time -- is static and unchanging like we used to think space was? Could time also be expanding or contracting? (Expanding seems more likely, as it would match what the other dimensions are doing.) After all, spacetime is all one thing, really. Space and time are inextricably linked. When you think of it that way, it seems nearly impossible that space would be expanding while time is not. Spacetime is expanding, so wouldn't that include time as well?
My question here is: what would it look like, subjectively, from our perspective inside it, if time was expanding just like space? Would we be able to measure it at all? Would there be any difference? Could the acceleration of space expansion ('dark energy') actually be explained by time expansion instead?
For a moment, imagine a universe where time definitely is expanding. Even if you don't think time could really be expanding, let's think about that hypothetical universe where it definitely is. What would that universe be like? How would it be different -- if at all -- from our universe?
Does it even matter? If time is expanding, but we still experience it passing at a constant rate, why would we even care whether it's expanding or not? An observer somehow watching it happen from 'outside of time' might, say, see things happening slower and slower ... but for beings living inside of spacetime, with their subjective perceptions also dependent upon the flow of time, would it actually change anything at all?
Then ... could this be explained through time expansion, without any need for 'dark energy'?
Maybe? The truth of the matter is that we don't really know very much about reality. Dark matter and dark energy are placeholders for something in reality that we have no explanation for, like the nested heavenly spheres of the earth-centric astrophysical model that describe the retrograde motion of the planets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_spheres
The expansion of the universe is also likely to be a misinterpretation of reality as it really is. Especially with findings of the james web telescope, we are constantly finding phenomena that show us just how little we understand.
And if you learn about evolution and perception, you start why we can get things so wrong.
https://youtu.be/oYp5XuGYqqY