Once a certain number of layers have been printed could the heatbed be turned off to save electricity and wear and tear on the heatbed itself?
Is there a reason the heatbed should stay on especially for PLA? Is there any benefit?
Just curious.
If you turn the heatbed off it will cool down, and once that happens the print will disconnect from the heatbed and fail
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Great point, thank you! That is why I ask these questions here.
No problem, I ask stuff all the time lol
There isn’t the advantage that you may believe. There is more to be lost than gained. Electronics in general degrade most during thermal expansion that occurs during startup and cooldown cycles. That is the majority of wear and tear on a heating element.
However, you could overcome the stiction issue that @fatherofteens describes by using a generous amount of glue on a smooth plate.
Before you do that though. Go buy one of these kill-o-watt meters and measure it yourself. Then ask yourself it it’s worth it.
These are available worldwide made by dozens of manufacturers and come with the local wall plug. Kill-o-watt is the original brand name but just buy anything that looks the same. If you don’t already have one, this is an indispensable tool to have at least one in every household. It measures, voltage, current, power(watts) and usage( kWh). There’s even a place where you can enter your cost per kWh and it will tell you over time what you’re paying in electricity for any appliance.
North and South America plug
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=kill-o-watt
UK plug
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=watt+meter
Mainland Europe plug
https://www.amazon.de/s?k=watt+meter
They even make one for down under. Who know they even had electricity? 
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You CAN print PLA on a cold plate, some other filaments as well, especially when using glue.
But the potential benefits/savings won’t make up for the frustration of a print getting off midway through or close to completion.
I printed with a cold glass plate for years and never had any real issues.
But once I got my first heated bed installed I never looked back.
If you ask me: Use what you have 
I believe it’s been mentioned on this board in discussions of chamber heaters and temperature that changing the build plate temperature during a print can also change the chamber temperature (if enclosed) and cause dimensional inconsistencies in a print if that is important.