feat: check grid intensity on middleware

[arkgor]

Problem

IMO checking grid intensity on client side has couple of potential weak points:

1. It's slow
2. We have to ask users to grant access to geolocation on their devices

Solution

We can use Next.js middleware (geolocation works well on Vercel for example) to read where the request comes form and perform all the gridIntensity calculations on server-side ... and only if we are not able to do it on server-side, then do it on the browser.

[vercel]

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[sampittko]

@arkgor like the idea as an exclusive feature for NextJS SUI package. I went with browser API as first approach as it is applicable independent of hosting platform / framework thats being used.

I think we could provide config option to disable browser native geolocation method and give developer freedom to provide location data from source of ther choice - wdyt? We can even expose calculateCarbonIntensity function to let developer choose where it should happen - in serverless function, edge function or on the client.

[sampittko]

@arkgor like the idea as an exclusive feature for NextJS SUI package. I went with browser API as first approach as it is applicable independent of hosting platform / framework thats being used.

I think we could provide config option to disable browser native geolocation method and give developer freedom to provide location data from source of ther choice - wdyt? We can even expose calculateCarbonIntensity function to let developer choose where it should happen - in serverless function, edge function or on the client.

Saying that, I think we can make our approach more composable, providing developer possibility to choose where these two actions happen:

• location data retrieval (browser, middleware, 3rd-party)
• grid carbon intensity retrieval (browser, serverless function, edge handler)

IMO default should be browser native and we can provide extensions for specific setup i.e. Vercel + NextJS with middleware that would use the library customization options. Would love to discuss more about this.

[sampittko]

How I think about this package currently is react implementation that can be hooked into raw React app, Gatsby app, NextJS app or any other React-based app. Framework-related improvements should be allowed by exposing customization options in general React library or do you think of any other approach?

[arkgor]

@sampittko ahh ok, after our call I noted that we go with next.js first and use everything that next.js offers to build the most wow/effective solution first, I had to misunderstood... 🙈

Then yes, for the just react implementation, it does not make sense.

[sampittko]

@arkgor but it definitely makes sense to provide it for NextJS implementation so if you would like, please go forward with updating the implementation - we can showcase this variant as the more effective one which would be beneficial for the final presentation

[sampittko]

@arkgor but it definitely makes sense to provide it for NextJS implementation so if you would like, please go forward with updating the implementation - we can showcase this variant as the more effective one which would be beneficial for the final presentation

I see value in providing option in library API to source location from different place than browser API. If you do see it too, dont hesitate to go forward!