Sure, but it will cause increased wear on the clutch plates. However, idling, keeping the clutch disengaged in neutral for longer periods of time increases wear on the dual-mass flywheel. So, whatever you do, you are damaging something :) . Personally I try to balance it out, but on longer down-hill slopes or when slowly coming to a traffic light I try to keep it in gear. It takes a bit of effort to train, but I really think that you can come close to hybrid economy figures (your mileage may vary :)) ) with thinking while driving. Remember Clarkson from Top Gear driving a 4.0 liter Audi for more than 1200 kilometers with one tank (which is around 82-85 liters) but with a lot of "work" behind the wheel. He got around 6.5 l/100km which is around 36-37 US MPG (or whatever freakin' unit you guys over the pond are using :) ).
Are you sure? I am pretty sure the clutch does not wear when fully engaged. It is only during engagement and disengagement where there is chance of wear.
The transmission on the other hand...
This is true, but the clutch bearings and spring may wear faster if the clutch is kept disengaged for too long, instead of switching the gearbox to neutral.