  In this article, we review a series of recent theoretical results regarding a
conventional approach to the dark energy (DE) concept. This approach is
distinguished among others for its simplicity and its physical relevance. By
compromising General Relativity (GR) and Thermodynamics at cosmological scale,
we end up with a model without DE. Instead, the Universe we are proposing is
filled with a perfect fluid of self-interacting dark matter (DM), the volume
elements of which perform hydrodynamic flows. To the best of our knowledge, it
is the first time in a cosmological framework that the energy of the cosmic
fluid internal motions is also taken into account as a source of the universal
gravitational field. As we demonstrate, this form of energy may compensate for
the DE needed to compromise spatial flatness, while, depending on the
particular type of thermodynamic processes occurring in the interior of the DM
fluid (isothermal or polytropic), the Universe depicts itself as either
decelerating or accelerating (respectively). In both cases, there is no
disagreement between observations and the theoretical prediction of the distant
supernovae (SNe) Type Ia distribution. In fact, the cosmological model with
matter content in the form of a thermodynamically-involved DM fluid not only
interprets the observational data associated with the recent history of
Universe expansion, but also confronts successfully with every major
cosmological issue (such as the age and the coincidence problems). In this way,
depending on the type of thermodynamic processes in it, such a model may serve
either for a conventional DE cosmology or for a viable alternative one.
