  One possible interpretation of the holographic principle is the equality of
the number of degrees of freedom in a bulk region of space and the number of
degrees of freedom on the boundary surface. It is known that such an equality
is maintained on equipotential surfaces in any static spacetime in the form of
an equipartition law N_{bulk}= N_{sur}. In the cosmological context, the de
Sitter universe obeys the same holographic equipartition. I argue that the
difference between the surface degrees of freedom and the bulk degrees of
freedom in a region of space (which has already emerged) drives the accelerated
expansion of the universe through a simple equation dV/dt = (N_{sur} -
N_{bulk}) where V is the Hubble volume in Planck units and t is the cosmic time
in Planck units. This equation reproduces the standard evolution of the
universe. This approach provides a novel paradigm to study the emergence of
space and cosmology and has far reaching implications.
