Are you thinking of Timescape Cosmology [0]? I think it's a great explanation for dark energy that should be further explored. A summary is that due to the large difference in gravitational gradients between in-a-galaxy and between-galaxies, it appears that intergalactic space is expanding, but in reality it's just progressing at a faster rate of time due to general relativity, thus appearing to inflate from our perspective.
Typical cosmological models assume homogeneity, which IMO is a poor assumption with the lumpy universe we live in. I'm a fan of more exactly applying known models before inventing new terms!