As the most obvious economic development in Ohio is data centers and server farms — necessary, but not exactly providing a lot of jobs while they place a greater burden on our energy infrastructure — lawmakers are looking for new ways to make sure those hungry facilities get all the electricity they need.

The growing demand is creating the possibility of energy shortages, prompting lawmakers to come up with energy efficiency and energy generation ideas.

“Until we get new baseload built, there is still not enough energy,” state Rep. Roy Klopfenstein, R-Haviland, told the Statehouse News Bureau.

So, he has pitched House Bill 427, which would allow customers to opt in to a program that lets utilities make adjustments such as raising consumers’ thermostats on hotter days or cycling their use of appliances such as dishwashers or washing machines.

“If we want to attract more business to Ohio, if we want to have the data centers here, if we don’t want rolling blackouts, we’re going to have to look at a number of creative things,” he told Statehouse News last month. “This is one of them we know works because the (large) commercials use it.”

Perhaps, but it’s hard not to notice that while we find ourselves in this situation, lawmakers are not moving full steam ahead on diversifying the state’s energy profile.

Then let’s explore the ideas we have to make do with the energy that is available now, and stop shooting ourselves in the foot by fighting against some energy options that could help — even if they are not the way things have been done here for a hundred years or more.

When lawmakers get back to work at the end of the month, it must be with a determination to expand and diversify the Buckeye State’s energy profile in a way that is in our best interests, not theirs.