diff --git a/constants.py b/constants.py
index ca3b8a1..366a48a 100644
--- a/constants.py
+++ b/constants.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ load_dotenv()
 
 # Define the folder for storing database
 PERSIST_DIRECTORY = os.environ.get('PERSIST_DIRECTORY')
+if PERSIST_DIRECTORY is None:
+    raise Exception("Please set the PERSIST_DIRECTORY environment variable")
 
 # Define the Chroma settings
 CHROMA_SETTINGS = Settings(
diff --git a/ingest.py b/ingest.py
index 0ca8074..825d732 100755
--- a/ingest.py
+++ b/ingest.py
@@ -24,12 +24,13 @@ from langchain.text_splitter import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter
 from langchain.vectorstores import Chroma
 from langchain.embeddings import HuggingFaceEmbeddings
 from langchain.docstore.document import Document
+
+if not load_dotenv():
+    print("Could not load .env file or it is empty. Please check if it exists and is readable.")
+    exit(1)
+
 from constants import CHROMA_SETTINGS
 
-
-load_dotenv()
-
-
 # Load environment variables
 persist_directory = os.environ.get('PERSIST_DIRECTORY')
 source_directory = os.environ.get('SOURCE_DIRECTORY', 'source_documents')
diff --git a/privateGPT.py b/privateGPT.py
index 0e3b9d0..74b3ca6 100755
--- a/privateGPT.py
+++ b/privateGPT.py
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ import os
 import argparse
 import time
 
-load_dotenv()
+if not load_dotenv():
+    print("Could not load .env file or it is empty. Please check if it exists and is readable.")
+    exit(1)
 
 embeddings_model_name = os.environ.get("EMBEDDINGS_MODEL_NAME")
 persist_directory = os.environ.get('PERSIST_DIRECTORY')
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ def main():
         case _default:
             # raise exception if model_type is not supported
             raise Exception(f"Model type {model_type} is not supported. Please choose one of the following: LlamaCpp, GPT4All")
-        
+
     qa = RetrievalQA.from_chain_type(llm=llm, chain_type="stuff", retriever=retriever, return_source_documents= not args.hide_source)
     # Interactive questions and answers
     while True: