WORKING 9 to 5, what a way to make a living - and what a waste of greenhouse gases, says one architect and urban planner. James Calder, a director at architecture firm Woods Bagot, said Sydney would be greener and more productive if the working day was split in two: a morning shift of 6am to 3pm and an afternoon shift of midday to 9pm.

"An extreme way of looking at our current workplace situation is that millions of people every day drag themselves to their cubicles, at great cost to the individual, organisation, and environment, so that they can send emails to the next cubicle," Mr Calder writes in his essay, 14-Hour City.

The essay has been published in a book called Connecting Cities: City Regions, launched by Planning Minister Frank Sartor at the urban planning conference 2008 Metropolis Congress.

"It is estimated that buildings contribute more than 30 per cent of global greenhouse emissions and yet they are one of our most underutilised assets," he writes. Mr Calder estimates that most office buildings are only being used for about 18 per cent of the week.

Splitting the day into two shifts would lead to "an increase of around 30-40 per cent in the utilisation of public transport, roads, and office buildings [and] an end to the crushing futility of the morning and evening peak hour rush," Mr Calder said.

Utah is the first American state to institute the four-day work week as a policy. The new policy, a year-long experiment established by executive order, took effect on 4 Aug.

It means that Utah state employees work from Monday through Thursday from 7am to 6pm. They will put in the usual 40 hours spread over four days instead of five - but save on the cost of driving on the fifth.

But employee saving is not the main reason why Utah is taking a new look at alternative work schedules. It expects to save about 20 per cent, or US$3 million ($4.2 million), in energy costs.

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